JANUARY
The New Year began with an unexpected change to the National Anthem, a move described as tokenistic by First Nations Australians, and was followed by the distribution of $1.4 million to First Nations arts organisations and artists via the Australia Council’s Cherish fund.
As the month drew towards its close, the annual Australia Day Honours were announced, with 50 awards presented to members of the performing, visual and literary arts, and an additional nine awards given to those in the broadcast and screen sectors. Always contentious given the date of the awards and their colonial underpinning, this year the Australia Day Honours were especially fraught given the ‘deeply insensitive and divisive decision’ to give the country’s highest award to tennis player turned Pentecostal preacher, Margaret Court.
