Preamble


Democracy is the key to cultural value

The future of australian culture

There has probably never been a better time than the present to re-assess our national cultural policy. Australia, like the rest of the world, is at a critical moment in its history. Here, as elsewhere, traditional values and ideologies are in flux and the speed of global economic and technological change has created doubt and cynicism about the ability of national governments to confront the future. What is distinctively Australian about our culture is under assault from homogenised international mass culture.

Ironically, our culture has never been more vital than it is now. At every level of society, Australians are engaged in cultural activities that are helping to re- invent the national identity, and most Australians would agree on the need to enhance and enrich our culture. To achieve this, cultural policy must enter the mainstream of federal policy-making.

What is australian culture?

Culture arises from the community, even when the community may not be fully aware of it. It encompasses our entire mode of life, our ethics, our institutions, our manners and our routines, not only interpreting our world but shaping it. The most highly developed and imaginative aspects of our culture are the arts and sciences which are fed back to the community by the most talented individuals.

For too many years, Australia's most gifted artists and writers had to seek recognition overseas.

This has changed. Over the past 25 years, Australian culture - now an exotic hybrid - has flourished. Enlightened government support for the arts, an equally enlightened migration policy, a growing respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the now common experience of overseas travel, the expansion of education opportunities and the global awareness created by the electronic media have all contributed to this change. Also important is the growing awareness that our culture possesses unique attributes.

For cultural policy-makers, however, there remains a dilemma. Australian notions of egalitarianism and fair play are at odds with the idea of encouraging, let alone honouring, the talented few at the expense of the many, especially in an era of cultural and moral relativism and cultural commercialisation.

At risk in these circumstances is the very concept of quality, along with the belief in the manifold and enduring benefits that might flow to a society that is exacting in its cultural standards and generous in its recognition of excellence.

It is time for government to elevate culture on the political agenda, to recognise that it has a natural place in the expectations of all Australians. In the light of this, it is important to assert that:

How might the Commonwealth enable Australian culture to flourish and Australian artists and writers of all kinds to excel? How might we celebrate and make the greatest use of the cultural assets of the nation? How might we best offer everyone access to the richness of our culture and enable young Australians to discover and realise their creative potential?

Some of the key disseminators of culture - education, broadcasting, tourism, international affairs - fall outside the portfolio of the Minister for the Arts, but a cultural policy must extend to all areas of government. We need to ensure that all Commonwealth agencies consider the cultural implications of their policies and that the Government accepts its responsibility for creating an environment in which culture may flourish.

So intricately is culture interwoven into the fabric of our life, so sensitive is it to government policies in all areas, so crucial is it to our national and our personal sense of identity, that the Panel is unanimous in recommending:

Charter of cultural rights

We recommend the Government's commitment to a charter of `Cultural Rights' that guarantees all Australians:

Cultural policy advisory panel

Left to right: Jill Kitson, Bruce Petty, Leo Schofield , Michael Leslie, Jennifer Kee, Peter Spearritt, Rodney Hall AM, Thea Astley AO.

(Absent: Gillian Armstrong AM and Graeme Murphy AM)

8 February 1993

The Commonwealth Government sincerely thanks the members of the Panel for their generous assistance.


Go to Previous Chapter Go to Previous Chapter          | Return to Table of Contents |           Go to Next Chapter Go to Next Chapter