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Federal budget 2018-19 offers paltry support for the arts

Instead of undoing damage inflicted on the Australia Council, Scott Morrison’s latest budget instead splurges almost $50m to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook's landing.

8 May 2018 12:00

Richard Watts

Performing Arts

Official portrait of Captain James Cook from the National Maritime Museum, United Kingdom.

Recalling the $4 million splashed on the Anzac Centenary Arts and Culture Fund but on a grander scale, the Turnbull Government’s 2018-19 budget fires another salvo in the culture wars by allocating $48.7m over four years to celebrate the 250^th anniversary of Captain Cook’s voyage to the South Pacific and Australia.

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Richard Watts

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