What Prime Minister Turnbull means for the arts

We examine Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's form on the arts as arts leaders launch a campaign to persuade the new PM to rethink the Budget cuts to Australia Council and Minister Brandis' National Program for Excellence in the Arts (NPEA).
[This is archived content and may not display in the originally intended format.]

Photo by Tim Bauer via www.malcolmturnbull.com.au

Latest: A protest calling for the repeal of the NPEA and for Brandis to be stripped of his Arts portfolio will be held outside the Prime Minister’s electoral office at 2pm today, Wednesday 16 September. Full details here.

Last night’s Liberal Party leadership spill, which saw Tony Abbott ousted as Prime Minister and replaced by the Member for Wentworth, Malcolm Turnbull, may yet have significant ramifications for the arts sector.

Unlock Padlock Icon

Unlock this content?

Access this content and more

Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts