A cultural policy will protect Australian democracy

In an election driven by cost-of-living concerns, a cultural policy might not be front-of-mind for voters.  

But the kind of government we elect determines the quality of democracy we receive. And a key pillar of any democracy is the arts.  

The arts are where the democratic muscle exercises itself without fear or favour, and imagination is given free rein over all aspects of society. 

A cultural policy maps out a country’s future. It articulates the overlapping vectors of artistic production, national identity, social values and human rights.  

If we imagine a future that is fair, sustainable and just – a future for the many not the few – then what are the key elements of an Australian cultural policy for 2025 and beyond? 

Artists are canaries in the coal mine 

In his address to the American Physical Society in 1969, Physicist, Heal Thyself, novelist Kurt Vonnegut first proposed his canary-in-the-coal-mine theory of the arts. 

“This theory argues that artists are useful to society because they are so sensitive. …They keel over like canaries in coal mines filled with poison gas, long before more robust types realise that any danger is there,” he said. 

Following this logic, danger is upon us. Australian artists are keeling over left, right and centre.  

Discussing his 2024 Artist-Worker Report, the latest in a longitudinal study, Professor David Throsby, reported a further 16 per cent of the artist-population doubted they would return to the time they spent on their art before COVID.  

“More or less, they’re going to leave the industry, so that’s a waste of talent as a result of the impact of the pandemic,” Professor Throsby said.  

If so, Australia’s artist-population is around 39,000 – higher than anecdotal evidence suggests but a significant drop of 11 per cent on Throsby’s 2009 Report over a period when Australia’s population increased by 21 per cent.  

The poison comes in many forms: negligible levels of direct funding, long-term apathy to artists’ working conditions, oversized bureaucracy, and censorship at the hands of institutions such as universities and our national arts agency, Creative Australia. 

This points to a devaluation of the arts and artists – and the work they do questioning, reflecting, and expressing our democratic society. 

Artists’ working conditions are so poor that Australian cultural policy needs a mechanism to provide a manifold increase in financial support. Put money into their pockets directly, not through organisations and institutions. Trickledown economics works as badly in the arts as any other sector.  

Immediate, urgent options are a sustainable living wage or a basic income for the arts scheme. Ireland’s scheme is currently trialling with extraordinary success. 

Culture as soft power

The actions of the second Trump Administration have prompted an overdue reappraisal of our relationship with America. But, if we make adjustments to our partnerships with now ‘risky’ allies, we also need an urgent reset of cultural diplomacy within our foreign policy. 

As a middle power, the way we understand and communicate the value of our national identity, and distinguish ourselves from others, can help to manage a turbulent global landscape.  

I witnessed first-hand the successful implementation of South Korea’s cultural policy from the mid-1990s to the mid-2010s. The Korean Wave, also known as Hallyu, helped define South Korea’s identity domestically and internationally, and strengthened its independence in the region.  

Australia has long needed to operate similarly.  

To do this, we need a stand-alone agency that places artistic and cultural production at its centre – one that can generate soft power, providing a clear point of cultural difference in a way that attracts like-minded middle powers.  

At the outset, the work of the agency will do two things: defend the space of Australian culture and create new space for our identity to be visible, appreciated and reflected back to us.  

No expression without freedom of expression 

None of this will be possible if the core values underwriting a cultural policy do not include artistic and creative freedom.  

Artists can’t operate without freedom of expression. An international outreach agency will not attract suitable middle powers as partners if this principle is not upheld or promoted. 

In February, the Board of Creative Australia announced and rescinded the appointment of artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino as Australia’s representatives to the Venice Biennale 2026 – all in the same week. Monash University has just announced the indefinite postponement of an exhibition featuring Sabsabi.  

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A post shared by Khaled Sabsabi (@peacefender)

These actions have been cast adjacent to actions of censorship or attempted censorship by other institutions involving writers at State Library of Victoria, a composer at Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, actors at Sydney Theatre Company and visual artists at National Gallery of Australia.  

The livelihood of artists and Australia’s international reputation has been severely compromised by these actions. 

A cultural policy must include upholding and protecting artistic and creative freedom as an inviolable right. This will go some way to preventing artistic censorship.  

Given Creative Australia’s recent action, it’s not enough for creative freedom to be included in its charter, it needs to be inscribed as a core principle of Australia’s cultural policy. 

History tells us that censorship of the arts augurs a turn to authoritarianism precisely because the arts represent an obstacle to its fruition. That the American administration has quickly and profoundly created such a rubric is a warning for Australia to protect our futures – not just from others but ourselves.