COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
SPEECH BY
The Rt Hon. W. McMAHON, M. P.
Prime Minister
ON
THE ARTS IN AUSTRALIA
Ministerial Statement
[ From the ' Parliamentary Debates', 26 October 1971]
Mr McMAHON ( Lowe-Prime Minister)
-by leave-Mr Acting Speaker, in recent
years my Government and its predecessors
have given greatly increased support to the
arts in Australia. The response has been
most encouraging. As a result, our policy
on the arts and the interpretation of action
taken or not taken by the Government have
. tracted a good deal of attention from
nonourable members as well as from the
media and the public. It is timely, therefore
to give to the House a fresh appreciation of
our attitude to the arts. It is proper for me
Sclarify some aspects of our involvement
lihich have been under discussion in recent
weeks. The Government sees the arts in a
multitude of expressions and forms-not as
an adornment but as an integral part of
life; not something exclusive to the hours
of leisure but as a force, penetrating and
enriching every aspect of human affairs; not
as the preserve of the rich and the
sophisticated but as a source of delight
for all.
The arts are among the factors which go
to create a quality of life unique in Australia.
In the past we may have been
inclined to stress the physical and material
satisfactions of life at the expense of the
pleasures of the creative imagination. And
as a result many talented Australians who
wished to be painters or writers, actors or
dancers, musicians or film directors have
had to leave Australia to build a career in a more sympathetic artistic climate elsewhere.
We could not afford this leaching of our
society any more than we can now afford to
allow our incomparable environment to be
despoiled and polluted by lack of foresight
and conscience. But, with the growing
cultural awareness of the Australian society
and because of support provided by governments,
the opportunities for talented
Australians to pursue a professional career
in this country have been increased
significantly in recent years. While there is
still much to be done, novelists and poets,
painters and sculptors can now command a
better market as professionals here and
abroad than they could do not so many
years ago.
The Australian Opera Company, the
Australian Ballet Company, the State drama
companies, the Australian Broadcasting
Commission and the Australian Elizabethan
Trust orchestras, and many other smaller
companies, all now employ artists on a
continuing basis, and they attract back to
Australia artists who, having gone abroad
for further experience, wish to return and
work in their own country. This flow will
increase as time goes by and bring great
stimulus and enrichment to the daily life of
all Australians.
The effectiveness of policy in relation to
the arts of course will depend in part on the
vitality and wisdom of the institutions set up
to administer it. In the Commonwealth, 7 1 / 9 4
overall responsibility for the arts has been
placed by me with the Minister for the
Environment, Aborigines and the Arts
( Mr Howson). This Ministry was created to
take over from the Prime Minister policy
issues of increasing importance on a variety
of matters which demanded more sustained
attention than it was possible for him to
give. Nevertheless, I find a certain logic in
the combination.
The Minister's responsibilities are all in
different ways concerned with the quality of
life which opens out before the Australian
people. It is increasingly clear that the
superb natural environment which this
continent provides for human life can no
longer be taken for granted. It must be
protected with understanding and with care.
If, as I have said, the arts should be deeply
integrated into our lives, they too form
pant of the intellectual and cultural environment
within which our lives are livedoffering
diversity of experience and lending
form and substance to our personal and
natural identity. Aboriginal Australians are
an unqualified responsibility of governments
-a challenge to our conscience and to our
political and social wisdom.
There is, particularly in relation to the
environment and the arts, much that we can
learn from them. For tens of thousands of
years they have inhabited this continent, living
in harmony with it and its creatures.
They established a way of life in which
the arts, of music, dance, theatre and ritual
were woven into the textore of their daily
lives. It is indeed a happy combination of
responsibilities which am sure will give
the Minister and his advisers great stimulus
and satisfaction. In the past, when responsibility
for the arts lay with the Prime Minister,
several separate bodies were set up and
were responsible for advising him on various
aspects of the arts. They continue to this
day and now advise the Minister for the
Environment. Aborigines and the Arts.
The Commonwealth Literary Fund had its
own advisory committee. In the building
up of the national collection of works
of art and on many related matters the
Prime Minister was assisted by the Commonwealth
Art Advisory Board. Advice on
the needs of composers has been provided
by the Board of the Commonwealth Assistance
to Australian Composers. In the field
of the performing arts help was given by the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust,
a private corporation supported by Government
funds. In recent years several major
institutional developments have occurred
including the establishment of the Australian
Council for the Arts, the completion
of the National Library, and the decision
to begin planning a National Gallery for
Canberra. More recently the Governmentt
established 2 new organisations in the field
of film and television, the Film Development
Corporation and the Interim Counc
of the Australian Film and Televisio..
Training School.
Apart from these bodies, the Australian
Broadcasting Commission, through its symphony
orchestras, television and radio pr~ r
grammes, has continued to exercise powe.
ful direct effects on the content and style
of the performing arts. The Government
has now, therefore, a range of organisations,
advisory and executive, to assist it to form
and give effect to policies for the support
of the arts. The time, therefore, may be
ripe to review the structure of these bodies
and their relationship to one another so
that they can best promote the vigour and
diversity of Australian artistic life. When
the late Mr Holt announced the Government's
decision to set up an Australian
Council for the Arts he said it would t
responsible primarily for the performing
arts, but would also have the task of advising
the Government on those aspects of
the arts not receiving aid through existing
channels. He said also that the establishment
of the Council did not preclude ti.
possibility of an overall council responsible
for all aspects of Government support for
the arts along the lines of the Canada Council
and the Arts Council of Great Britain.
Support has also been expressed for a comprehensive
ministry of culture in the style
common among European countries.
Du ring the last two or three years the
Council for the Arts and other advisers
have given thought to these possibilities.
After consultation with them, I am inclined
to distrust the idea of a single monolithic
controller of public patronage. With all its
faults I believe that our pattern of various
channels of support, with scope for varied
artistic and social influences, is almost certainly
healthier. Nevertheless the arts are in
a perpetual process of change and are
unlikely long to fit a pattern of institutions
evolved slowly over many years. New art
forms emerge under the stimulus of technological
change which do not fall readily
within accepted classifications.
One of the most exciting aspects of contemporary
cultural life is the crossfertilisation
which now occurs between
different art forms, a process greatly stimulated
by developments in film and electronic
processes. It is important, therefore, firstly,
that the organisational structure should be
. exible and capable of adapting itself to
change and, secondly, that the state of the
arts should continuously be studied so that,
where necessary, gaps may be filled, collaboration
ensured and new initiatives
stimulated. My colleague, the Minister, tells
. ie that he intends shortly, and thereafter
at intervals, to bring together the Chairmen
of the various Commonwealth agencies in
the arts to discuss their present responsibilities
and relationships one to the other.
This will be a valuable opportunity for
them to offer their advice on the effectiveness
of the present structure to meet the
changing demands of contemporary art
forms. It will continue to be the function of the
Council for the Arts to study and report
on those aspects of the arts which are not
; sisted through existing Commonwealth
agencies and to make its contribution to
advice available to the Minister on the balance
and effectiveness of our programmes
as a whole. It was in pursuit of these func-
' ions that the Council presented my prede-
, ssor with a report which led to major
developments in the field of film and television
to which I shall return later.
More recently a study of the state of
music in Australia has been completed and
the Council will shortly be presenting my
colleague with its recommendations arising
from that study. Two additional studies
will be undertaken this year by committees
to be established by the Minister. The first
of these will examine the role of crafts as
art forms in their own right, as a widely
spread experience of creative processes and
as the foundation of good industrial
design. The committee will include representatives
of the Council for the Arts,
the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board
and the Council for Industrial Design who
will jointly advise on the committee's
terms of reference. The second will concern itself with
means whereby children and young people
can be helped to enjoy and practise the
arts more effectively. The chairmen of the
Council for the Arts, -the Commonwealth
Assistance to Australian Composers Advisory
Board, the Commonwealth Literary
Fund and the Commonwealth Art Advisory
Board will jointly advise on the terms
of reference of this study which will also
involve educational authorities. Special
attention will be given in these and other
future studies to the effect of innovation in
art forms and the mutual stimulus they
can provide for one another.
Before leaving areas of the arts for
which the Council is responsible, let me
comment on the increased support for the
performing arts being given this year. The
grant has been increased by almost 17 per
cent to $ 4.5m. The greater part of the
increase has been given deliberately to the
Australian Opera and to the orchestras of
the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust.
Their share has been increased by 45 per
cent to $ 1,290,000. Some critics have seen
this as an example of discrimination or
favouritism. The Government believes that
increased support for the arts cannot sensibly
be given uniformly across the board.
That way, no large development can ever
be ' achieved, given the competitive pressures
on Government funds. It is more
effective to seize opportunities for major
break-throughs as they are offered by the
occasion or by some other stimulus to
innovation. In 1973 the opening of the Sydney
Opera House will give Australia the
chance to match the splendour of that
building with performances which will be
worthy of it and of the long association of
Australians with this art form. The Government
makes no apology for the emphasis
it has this year given to strengthening
the opera company and its associated
orchestra. Their success will set new standards
for all the arts and I am sure that
the special occasion for others will be not
far distant. Those who love the arts will
rejoice that Australian opera has -been
given an effective opportunity to set new
s'andards of excellence.
* Let me turn now to developments in the
visual arts. As honourable members know,
the first steps have been taken to establish
a national gallery. Over many years the
Art Advisory Board has built up in the
gallery an historical collection of the works
of Australian painters of the past and the
present. It will also incorporate outstanding
examples of the work of indigenous artists
of New Guinea and aboriginal Australia,
art of the South-East Asian and Pacific
region and art on a world-wide basis,
beginning with the 20th century.
The gallery will be more than the home
for a unique and splendid collection of
works of art. Its functions are broadly
conceived so that it will become also a
centre of creative activity for the exhibition
of collections from abroad and of the
work of contemporary artists, and a focus
of education and research exercising, in
collaboration with sister galleries in the
States, a profound and pervasive influence
on the life of Australians.
When the decision to proceed with gallery
planning was taken in 1% 7 an interim
council was appointed to administer certain
aspects of the initial programme. Its terms
of office expired recently and it is the
Government's intention now to legislate for
a permanent council as a statutory body to
administer the gallery. Much, of course,
will depend on the gallery's first Director.
I am pleased to announce tonight that the
Government proposes to appoint Mr James
Mollison to the post. Pending the submission
of the legislation and the establishment
of the statutory office, Mr Mollison
has agreed to make his services available
under contract to the Government to carry
out the duties and responsibilities that will
fall to the director of the gallery. The
Government has deliberately chosen in Mr
Mollison one who is young as well as
talented and experienced. It will be some
years before the building of the gallery is
complete and its work in full flower. By
then the new director will have grown with
it in stature and have benefited from the
experience of others in Australia and
abroad. The Government is fortunate also that
Mr James Sweeney, the eminent American
Gallery Director and international art and
gallery consultant, has agreed to work with
the new director and the architect during
the present design phase of the gallery. He
will work as a specialist consultant and
adviser to the Government and the National Capital Development Commission
which has charge of the whole project. Mr
Sweeney has already given distinguished
service to the Government and the
National Capital Development Commission
and we value highly the contribution he
has already made to the preparatory phase
of work in the gallery. Honourable members
will share, I am sure, my appreciation
of his work and his readiness to continue
to assist us. I should also add that when
the permanent council for the gallery iappointed
the Art Advisory Board t.
which I have already referred will become
part of the council. The Art Advisory
Board will also perform those other functions
it now exercises which are not directly
concerned with the gallery.
Mr Acting Speaker, I come now to tht
film and television industry. When the
Council for the Arts presented its report
for the development of the film and television
industry it urged the establishment of
3 new institutions-the Australian Film
Development Corporation, the Experimental
Film Fund and the Australian Film
and Television School. The Australian
Film Development Corporation is actively
at work and a number of investments have
been made. The Corporation was designed
to serve as a source of part of the capita'
needed for commercial film and televisio.
ventures, and thus act as a catalyst for
funds from private and banking sources.
The Government looks, however, to
other sections of the film and television
industry to share more actively with * l
Corporation the development of an effective
Australian industry. The Experimental
Film Fund has, until recently, been the
responsibility of the Australian Council for
the Arts. It has already proved effective in
identifying original creative talent in this
medium. The Council has also developed a
more general programme to stimulate the
Australian content of film and television
programmes and to extend sensitive and
critical appreciation of -high quality film
and television. Responsibility for these programmes
will now be taken over by the
Interim Council for the Film and Television
School as has been announced by the
Minister. It was partly with these new
responsibilities in mind that the Government
has decided to add to the Interim
Council 2 men long experienced in radio,
television and film making. They are Mr
Hector Crawford and Mr Lenard Mauger.
Their knowledge will be, I am sure, of
great value -in helping us to promote plans
for the development of the film industry.
There has been a good deal of misunderstanding
of the Government's attitude
towards the question of assistance for
training of film and television producers.
The Government decided at Budget time
to defer consideration of a proposal to
establish a training school for this purpose.
is was one of a number of proposals
-er the range of Government activity on
which consideration was deferred because
of the need to restrict Government expenditure.
This does not mean that the Government
has abandoned the idea of estabing
a training school. In this House on
L1O~ ctober I informed honourable members
that I had instructed the Minister to
proceed as quickly as possible to collect all
the evidence that becomes available to him
so that the proposal could be presented to
the Government well before the next
Budget and not necessarily, therefore, in a
Budget context. He is doing this.
The current position is that the enlarged
Interim Council to which I have just
referred has been asked to review the
relationship of the training already underen
* by -the Australian Broadcasting
jmmjssion, the commercial television
organisations and the film industry to Ahe
programme of the proposed school. It
will seek the co-operation of those
interests for this review. When it has
ived this report the Government will
Leen consider the most appropriate way
in which it might act to assist the industry
in this important area.
In addition to the institutional develop*
ments recommended to and adopted by
the Government, the Council for the
Arts drew attention to the need of the
Australian film industry for some degree
of protection to establish itself on tin'
Australian market. The Council suggestel.
that advice on this matter should be
sought from the Tariff Board or a specially
constituted committee. Many other
countries have found it necessary to
establish quotas or to provide other forms of protection to prevent their
vigorous but infant film industry being
overwhelmed by imported features. I have
therefore asked my colleague, the, Minister
for Trade and Industry, to invite the
Tariff Board to consider the need and
appropriate form of protection for this
industry. He has agreed to do this and in
due course ' the Tariff Board will begin its
work. I should also remind honourable
members that the Government has done
much to advance the cause of the Arts
by ensuring that the Australian Broad.
casting Commission and, through the
Broadcasting Control Board, the commercial
stations, give a substantial percentage
of their viewing time to Australian
made programmes. Under recently
specified new requirements commercial
stations have increased their quotas of
Australian programmes. All stations which
have been established for 3 years or more
must televise at least 50 per cent of Australian
programmes, and 45 per cent of
peak-time programmes between 6 p. m.
and 10 p. m. must be Australian in content.
Audience surveys in recent years show
that some Australian programmes are
getting top ratings.
There remains much of the more
detailed work in support of the arts of
which my colleague, the Minister, will tell
the House at the appropriate time. This
statement has been designed to expres. s
my Government's deep concern for the
arts as an essential and vigorous component
of our national life; to acquaint
the House with the principles which underlie
our organisation for making that
concern effective; and to inform the House
of certain initiatives which will, I am sure,
be welcomed inside and outside Parliament
by those who share our belief that the
arts can add both richness and diversity
to -the quality of life. Mr Acting Speaker,
I commend this statement to you. I present
the following paper:
The Arts in Australia-Ministerial Statement,
26th October .1971.
Motion ( by Mr Swartz) proposed:
That the House take note of the paper.
199% 1711991G71. WM. u muy, Government Printer, Canberra