PRIME MINISTER
ADDRESS BY THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P J KEATING MIPCOMMONWEALTH
CULTURAL POLICY LAUNCH
TUESDAY 18 OCTOBER
This is a very great pleasure.
No government has ever delivered a national cultural
policy for Australia on anything like these dimensions.
I'm not sure many national governments in other countries
have delivered cultural statements.
The Americans are in the process of formulating one at
the moment for delivery towards the end of the century,
I understand.
We need this statement.
As the document says, it is long overdue.
We have had a cultural debate running in this country for
a very long time.
our post-colonial status guaranteed that there would be a
lot of questions asked about who we are, what level ofculture
we might reasonably aspire to, whether we should
be transplanting European culture or fostering an
indigenous one, what the worth of such a strange hybrid
would be.
These arguments run right through our history in this
century.
At the extremes it was " evening dress and the opera"
versus the " wattle and bottle".
Anglophilia and Anglophobia.
The debate tended to lurch between the cultural cringe
and cultural swagger.
It has taken us a long while to find what Robert Hughes
recently called " a relaxed uprightness of carriage."
The two extremes don't make much sense.
Both are narrow, both inclined to xenophobia.
And both fatally missed the point that our development
was bound to reflect the accumulation of cultures which
of necessity an immigrant society creates and that from
such variety great riches flow.
The simplest truths can be the hardest to grasp.
The idea that a cosmopolitan Australia might be a
worthwhile aspiration and not a nightmare was a long time
coming. To imagine a culturally diverse Australia and enjoy the
idea meant overturning a lot of received wisdom.
The notion that we were a country without history, for
instance. It meant recognising that, far from lacking history and
culture, we were the beneficiaries of an extraordinary
heritage: that settlers in Australia, whether they
arrived from Great Britain and Ireland in the nineteenth
century, or Europe, or the Middle East or Asia in the
twentieth century no settlers in this country ever
entirely left their culture behind.
To recognise that was to recognise the depth of our
history and heritage.
And in the last twenty years we have recognised it.
Essentially, I think that is what multiculturalism means.
We have recognised that from new settlers we can derive
more than raw energy, skills and ambition there is a
cultural dividend.
In recent years we have also come to the realisation that
it is our great good fortune to share in the magnificent
heritage of the oldest civilisation on earth.
These are watersheds in our cultural development.
It has been truly a sea change the tide of our national
consciousness has turned.
And nothing, it seems to me, has done more to free us
from our insecurities.
Yet recognising the great wealth of culture we have
inherited cannot obscure or deny the fact that culture is
built in large part on the experience of the last two
hundred years of living in this continent.
Our traditions are still firmly fixed in that experience,
and they remain alive in our art and literature and film.
3
That is a heritage which we must preserve, a set of
recognisably Australian values which must continue to
inform the creative life of the nation.
That these intangible things are powerful forces in the
national life might be measured by the inclination of
Australians to watch Australian television shows, or read
Australian books.
You might see it in the huge success of the Golden
Summers exhibition a few years ago, or films like
Strictly Ballroom, or at another level the impact
which the Entombment of the Unknown Australian Soldier
had on the nation last year.
Australians do still read Henry Lawson and Banjo
Paterson.
They do still look at Streeton and Roberts.
They still love them.
But these days they know there is so much more in the
cupboard.
And what is so encouraging these days is the new
confidence the unashamed enthusiasm.
It distinguishes some of those recent films.
It was there in some of the acts I have seen yesterday
and today.
It is there in the reviews the Australian Ballet just
received in Washington.
I wouldn't want to pretend to argue the finer points of
dance technique with Clive Barnes.
I am very pleased that he finds them technically in the
forefront of the world's ballet companies.
I like that, but I love it when he says that they have " a
very real spirit, an individuality that is fresh and open
and quite original.
It is the sort of energy and open freshness that people
associate with Australia itself."
I find myself pleased to hear Clive Barnes approving of
our dancers and absolutely delighted to think that our
dancers might convey to the world the message that there
is a great optimistic spirit at large in Australia.
The first is satisfying, the second is moving.
4
Creative Nation does not attempt to impose a cultural
landscape on Australia but to respond to one which is
already in bloom.
I hope that in time this statement will be seen as the
day we drew a line under our post-colonial era and said
good-bye to it.
I don't think we should look back in anger to the
generations who conducted the cultural debate in that
era.
We've come by stages to where we are and a lot of
cultural wealth has come with us.
We may even be a lot wiser for having been through the
cringe, and even censorship.
Just the same, as the statement says, today I hope we are
also saying a final goodbye to all those manifestations
of cultural insecurity including cultural jingoism.
And goodbye forever to the days when our best talents
left Australia because there was not enough here to
persuade them to stay.
The statement is not about looking back.
It is very much an attempt to lay the foundations of a
new era: to pull the threads of our national life
together, so that we can ride the waves of global change
and create our own.
I've said elsewhere that as a government our great
ambition has been to bring cultural issues into the
mainstream of our national life, and national decisionmaking.
That's why, for instance, we brought the arts into the
Cabinet, and subsequently combined the arts with the
Department of Communications.
We emphatically believe that cultural issues should be at
the core.
on the one hand, this is because no economic or social
decision is without a cultural consequence.
The quality of our lives, the opportunities for self
expression, the integrity of our heritage cannot be left
to chance.
They can no longer be the last consideration.
That, it seems to me, is one of the responsibilities of a
mature country and one of the imperatives in this era
of globalisation and the information revolution.
On the other hand, we are putting cultural issues at the
centre because the more we succeed in encouraging a
creative spirit and the flow of creative ideas, the more
we will succeed as an economy and society.
There are huge economic benefits to flow from a confident
and secure, innovative and imaginative culture.
And direct social benefits direct national benefits.
There are still a few people who believe that culture
belongs on the margins.
We take this opportunity to say that they are wrong.
This statement does not cover every element in our
national life.
It does not go to every city and every community.
But we hope it signals our intention.
It is a national policy.
It will have a national effect a national benefit.
The statement aims at excellence at creating the
conditions in which Australian talent can reach the
highest standards and Australians can ejy the highest
standards.
No cultural policy could aim at anything less.
The statement is also concerned with access at making
our arts and heritage accessible to everyone.
We aim to do this through partnerships with State and
other levels of government and through private
benefaction wherever possible.
As an example of the pursuit of excellence we are
creating with the Victorian Government a National Academy
of Music in Melbourne.
A school of music of the highest standards for students
from Australia and overseas.
With the Queensland Government we are establishing the
National Indigenous Performing Arts Institute, a centre
of excellence to preserve and foster Australia's unique
indigenous art forms and heritage.
Here in Canberra, in association with the ACT government,
the Gallery of Aboriginal Australia will be established
on the Acton Peninsula on the shores of Lake Burley
Griffin.
6
The Gallery will be co-located with new premises for the
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Studies.
I should here pay tribute to Rosemary Follett for her
initiative and vision, and not just so far as the Gallery
of Aboriginal Australia is concerned.
Here at the NGA, the ACT governent will partner the
Commonwealth in the construction of a purpose-built
exhibition space to house major national and
international exhibitions.
In the pursuit of both excellence and access to it, we
will continue to develop the National Museum in ways
which will enable maximum public access to the nation's
cultural heritage, through a combination of touring and
use of new multimedia.
New museum gateways are being developed at Old Parliament
House Canberra, and Sydney Customs House.
In time I hope the National Museum will be an umbrella
organisation which provides access to the holdings of all
our national collecting institutions.
The National Sound and Film Archive is the repository for
much of Australia's audio visual history and therefore a
unique and valuable history of the evolvement of
century Australia.
The premises which the Archives currently occupies do not
provide an adequate facility from which these treasures
can be viewed or heard by large numbers of visitors.
We will rectify the difficulty that the archives
presently faces of a shortage of exhibition, display and
laboratory space.
In Melbourne the Australian Cultural Foundation will be
established to gather more effectively into the cultural
development of Australia the humanities and social
sciences.
To give the Foundation a firm base from which to start it
will operate as part of the Australia Council, at the
same time providing the Council with a Melbourne
presence. The Australia Council continues to be pivotal in the
nation's artistic life and cultural development.
It has played a crucial role in our reaching the levels
of excellence and wide participation in the arts we
currently enjoy.
Important though it is, it cannot however continue to be
merely a grant giving body.
7
The Commonwealth believes that the Australia Council must
now spend more of its resources in audience development,
creating linkages with new broadcasting technologies,
market development here and abroad and in stimulating
more participation in the arts from the private sector.
The Government is confident the Council is determined to
take up the challenge but recognises it cannot hope to
succeed without additional funds.
We want a Council which continues to do the things it
presently does so well: so we are providing an increase
in base Council funding of $ 18 million over four years,
particularly to assist individual artists.
This will also help to meet the cost of increased wage
obligations caused by a recent arbitrated wage increase
for actors and dancers.
But we want it to do more and that is why, among other
things, we are introducing triennial funding, and a new
major organisations board.
We have long recognised the need for the Council and its
clients to operate in an atmosphere of stability and
predictability so that they may undertake better forward
planning in the same way as any other business enterprise
does. The Council has already done some preliminary work to
identify organisations which will be funded through the
new board, and I expect that they will be announced
shortly. The Government continues to believe adamantly in the
principles of peer assessment and arms length funding-so
it will not be intervening in the selection process,
though the Minister will be consulted.
However, it is reasonable to expect that two
organisations which will become part of the MOB are the
Australian Chamber Orchestra and the Sydney Symphony
Orchestra. The ACO is an orchestra of international quality, and a
world leader in its field.
The Sydney Symphony Orchestra, we also believe has the
potential to be one of the great international
orchestras. In keeping with other truly great orchestras, the SSO
will be allowed to operate under its own local control
allowed to draw on the resources, enthusiasm and
character of Sydney.
8
The Commonwealth will maintain its funding in real terms,
but through the Major Organisations Board of the
Australia Council, rather than the ABC.
The Government will also be providing additional
assistance to augment the Orchestra to full international
size and enable it to enhance its current touring and
recording program.
By agreement, the Orchestra will also maintain
facilitational and media linkages with the ABC.
We have begun with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
The way is open, however, for the other orchestras to
follow if they wish.
If these initiatives are taken in the pursuit of
excellence, several others announced in this policy will
create access to excellence in music for many thousands
of Australians.
There are extra funds provided for Musica Viva's schools
program enabling it to tour Australia wide.
We are also providing extra funds for opera on tour.
In another initiative, calculated to join music to our
national life, I am pleased to announce today the
Commonwealth will provide a prize of $ 100,000 for an
original symphony to commemorate the centenary of our
nationhood in the year 2001.
Film and television production constitute another great
success story of our recent history.
No other medium, perhaps, offers ordinary Australians
such insights and access to the national character,
heritage and identity.
And no other medium carries the image of Australia so
pervasively abroad.
The film and television industry is a vital resource, an
essential element of the national culture.
Australians have demonstrated their desire to see more
Australian product on screen, and Australian producers
have amply demonstrated their capacity to deliver quality
programs, provided funds are available.
Therefore, the Government will establish a special
Television Production Fund providing $ 20 million per
annum for three years from the next financial year.
The Fund, which will be located in Melbourne, will
support the production of Australian drama, children's
programs, documentaries and the developing and marketing
and multimedia applications.
It is aimed expressly at the quality end of the film and
television market.
At least 50 per cent of the Fund will be available to
independent producers, the balance will go to the
networks for in-house productions.
And productions financed from this Fund will not count
towards existing Australian content quota requirements.
SBS too has suffered from a shortage of production funds
and has had to rely increasingly on overseas material
which does not of itself reflect the Australian
multicultural community.
The Government, therefore, will provide $ 13 million over
four years to SBS to commission high quality Australian
programs. This will enable SBS to utilise the language skills base
of contemporary Australian society and make programs for
sale into Asian and European markets.
I am also pleased to announce today that after
negotiations with the Commonwealth Government and subject
to the settlement of some final details, The News
Corporation Limited and its film production company,
Century Fox, have agreed to establish a movie studio in
Australia to produce major international length feature
films. The establishment of the studio offers large potential
benefits to Australia.
With distributional links through Fox and other world
distributors, Australia can become a larger part of the
world trade in entertainment, while establishing itself
as a hub for content in the rapidly growing Asia-Pacific
markets. Linkages with internationally integrated multimedia
companies will also help Australia become a greater
participant in the burgeoning markets for content that
will be carried over the world's information highways.
The planned facility will include three sophisticated
sound stages equal to any in the world, with all the
associated pre and post production facilities.
The studios will be available to independent Australian
film makers and are expected to attract independent
production companies from overseas.
S-*
The Commonwealth Goverrnent and 20th Century Fox have
discussed locations for the studio in Sydney and believe
the Showground site to be the most suitable this, of
course, is a matter for discussion with the
government. The Commonwealth will assist with site preparation and
development. Our cultural policy directly addresses the challenges
which confront Australia in realms of information
technology and multimedia.
It was in recognition of these challenges that the
portfolios of Communications and the Arts were combined.
The move was made to deal with the convergence of
broadcasting, telecommunications, computing and creative
industries and technologies.
It is true that we have in Australia one of the more
advanced telecommunications networks in the world, and
there has been substantial investment in our information
highway. Australians will have access to the interactive
multimedia which is already changing our lives and
creating extraordinary new possibilities in education,
the arts and information; the way we learn; the way we do
business. In 1993 the Commonwealth established the Broadband
Services Expert Group to report on the implications for
Australia of developments in multimedia and broadband
services.
The group nominated content as the critical issue for-
Australia. Indeed Australia has the opportunity to become a world
leader in the production of content.
We can, for instance, if we move rapidly, gain a
significant share of the CD-ROM market.
In the longer term though not very much longer we can
create a dynamic multimedia industry in Australia.
our strengths in film and television, literature, music
and art, in combination with our highly educated
population, give us an excellent platform on which to
build.
Multimedia thus creates the potential for expanding our
cultural industries.
It provides new opportunities for people especially
young people with creative talent.
So that we can take full advantage of the opportunities
open to us, and guarantee that we enter the 21st century
in the front rank of nations, the Government has
announced in the cultural policy five specific and
complementary measures costing $ 84 million over a five
year period.
We will establish a coordinating body known as the
Australian Multimedia Enterprise; several Multimedia
Development Centres; and a series of national Multimedia
Forums.
We will also be commissioning CD-ROMS involving material
from our major cultural institutions for Australian
schools.
And we will provide specific assistance to foster our
film agencies move into multimedia.
If we are to rely on talented Australians using their
imagination and creativity to provide us with the content
for new media, we have to ensure that they get a fair
return for their efforts.
You will find in the document a range of measures that
we've taken to protect the intellectual property of our
content providers.
As this launch is taking place in the National Gallery,
it is particularly appropriate to mention one of them
the Government will be providing $ 1 million to assist
with the setting up of Viscopy a copyright collecting
agency for the visual arts.
This copyright society will ensure that artists,
including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artist&,
whose work is particularly prone to unauthorised use,
will obtain a proper financial return for the use of
their work.
With the growing ability to reproduce visual images
through digitised technology, an increasing source of
income for our artists will be the fees collected from
such reproduction.
This policy has taken some time to formulate.
That is no bad thing.
We think it will boost the quality of Australian life now
and in the future.
It will boost the creative element in our national life.
It will create new cultural industries.
It will mean more work and opportunities for Australian
artists, writers and other creative people.
12
It will make us a more cohesive country.
It will enrich us for years to come.
I hope it will be seen as a landmark a moment which we
confirmed our faith in the life we have built here, and
our ability to meet the challenges which the future
holds. In the preparation, many people deserve our thanks.
Not least among them was the Cultural Advisory Panel we
appointed and who provided, in a sense, the kernel of the
Statement. It has grown like Topsy since but their report was an
essential starting point, and I thank them for their
efforts and wisdom.
I must also thank the three Ministers who preceded
Michael Lee David Simmons, Wendy Fatin and Bob
McMullan.
And I must thank Michael for his contribution.
Many Australians contributed to the formulation of the
policy through the submissions they made to the
Government, and through their attendance at public
forums.
There are many others.
Most of all I want to thank the creative artists of
Australia and I mean all of them, from the stars and
the major organisations to the people in communities all
over Australia who engage in works which enrich theirlives
and countless others.
This cultural policy of necessity has addressed some of
the great questions now facing Australia.
And, by and large, that is what I have addressed in this
speech today.
But you will find there is a good deal in this policy for
all those engaged in the creative life of the country a
good deal I truly believe for all Australians.
With this policy we have set out to devise a better
creative climate in Australia.
With it we recognise the value of creative effort and
what it means to our future.
We are spending $ 252 million to build the infrastructure,
boost the funds, create the industries which will employ
and reward creative effort.
This statement goes a long way towards bringing culture
and creativity into the mainstream.
The opportunities will be there in the future. The
openings will be there for talent and industry.
It will be a new environment, and one in which success
will depend less on governments and more on the creative
initiatives of Australians.
We will all be richer for the effort all so much more
aware of what it means to be Australian.
ENDS