A Return to Nation-Building Through Culture? The Past, Present and Futures of Australian Cultural Policy

Abstract

The Australian National Cultural Policy titled Revive, was released by the Albanese Labor Government in January 2023. The policy is marked by elements of both continuity and change in terms of Australian cultural policy. It claims cultural policy to be a uniquely Labor initiative, building on a meta-narrative that associates Labor government since Gough Whitlam with an agenda of globalisation and modernisation in which state-supported arts and culture is seen as having a distinctive nation-building role. At the same time, the policy is marked by a relative downplaying of the creative industries agenda emphasising the economic contribution of culture, and a stronger focus on artists as workers and the precarious nature of cultural employment. It also links cultural policy strongly to First Nations aspirations, particularly around greater control over decisions that affect First Nations people in the arts and culture.