New Arts Minister can fix problems for $0
Greens Arts spokesperson Adam Bandt MP today celebrated the Arts Ministry being taken away from Senator George Brandis and called on new Arts Minister Mitch Fifield to rebuild relationships with the Australian arts community by dropping George Brandis' National Program for Excellence in the Arts (NPEA) and restoring funding to the Australia Council.
"There has never been an Arts Minister less liked by the Australian arts community than George Brandis," Mr Bandt said.
"George Brandis gutted the Australia Council and threatened the very independence of publicly funded arts by siphoning hundreds of millions of dollars into his own personally-controlled vanity project."
"At absolutely no cost to the Budget, the new Minister Mitch Fifield can revitalise Australia's arts community by scrapping the NPEA and giving its funding back to the Australia Council."
"The NPEA didn't arise from a review or seek to fix a problem, it arose from the Abbott government's imagination and created a mess."
"I join the arts community in celebrating George Brandis' time as Arts Minister coming to an end."
"With George Brandis now gone from the Arts Ministry, incoming Arts Minister Mitch Fifield can reverse much of the damage for $0."
"The first thing that Mitch Fifield should do as Arts Minister is rebuild relationships with the arts community by dropping the NPEA and immediately restoring funding to the Australia Council."
Media contact: Adam Pulford, 0429 109 054