Pre-Budget Submission 2026–2027
Resources
ANA’s recommendations in this Federal Pre-Budget Submission 2026–27 focus on practical actions to build an arts and culture system that delivers for all Australians:
- A National Arts and Culture Strategy
- A secretariat to support Cultural Ministers to meet regularly
- A strategic approach to international cultural relations.
These actions establish enduring governance infrastructure for a long-term, multi-government and multi-partisan approach that defines shared objectives and delivers results.
Now is the time to pursue these opportunities, thanks to:
- The Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This is the cultural and sporting event of a generation. The Australian Government should act now to achieve lasting arts and culture impacts by collaborating with Australia’s states and territories and building momentum internationally.
- A national focus on cultural policy, and culture and creativity’s role in driving Australia’s economic and social wellbeing. The Australian Government should capitalise on current momentum for action. For example, the upcoming national cultural policy consultation is already fostering collaboration, including intergovernmental work on tax reform to better support Australian audiences and the cultural and creative industries.
Arts and culture can provide the Australian Government with a transformative edge to tackle Australia’s deepest challenges. These include the current cost-of-living crisis, decline in social cohesion, stagnation of productivity and the need to engage with the emerging and often unpredictable risks created by geopolitical instability and new technologies, including generative artificial intelligence (AI).
The Australian Government can invest now in the national governance infrastructure needed to unlock the benefits of arts and culture for all Australians.
Recommendation 1: A National Arts and Culture Strategy
Recommendation 1: A National Arts and Culture Strategy
Australia’s federal, state, territory and local governments invest $8.6 billion annually in arts and culture.
Currently, each level of government has its own cultural policy outlining its approach and priorities for arts, culture and creativity for its jurisdiction. However, Australia does not have a National Arts and Culture Strategy to drive long-term strategic collaboration between governments.
This means that there is no formal mechanism for all levels of government to share a vision and agree on shared outcomes and measurements for cultural access and the creative industries.
Without an overarching vision or goal for our arts and culture system, and an approach to achieving it, Australians continue to miss out on opportunities to:
- bolster productivity and economic wellbeing
- leverage the economic and social impact of the creative and cultural industries
- increase cultural access and engagement
- strengthen social cohesion.
The Australian Government, in partnership with other levels of government, should develop and implement a 10-year National Arts and Culture Strategy, modelled on the successive national sport plans and strategies which have delivered enduring policy results in Australia.
A National Arts and Culture Strategy would would be separate to and complement – not replace – existing policies. It would help deliver social and economic impacts across Australia by driving long-term collaboration and bringing together fragmented investment arrangements across federal, state, territory and local governments, without limiting their independence.
Recommendation 2: A secretariat for Cultural Ministers to meet regularly
Recommendation 2: A secretariat for Cultural Ministers to meet regularly
The existing forum for Cultural Ministers to meet is important for coordinated work, especially with combined state and territory investment now exceeding federal government funding. In recent years, however, Cultural Ministers have not consistently met the intended twice per year.
This has meant that jurisdictions have missed out on regular opportunities to collaborate on arts and culture priorities.
A dedicated secretariat within the Office for the Arts for regular meetings of Cultural Ministers would establish consistent support for federal, state and territory collaboration.
By providing consistent support through a dedicated secretariat, governments would be in a better position to negotiate the use of their unique powers, beyond direct funding, to support cultural access and strengthen creative industries. This would include exploring no- and low-cost opportunities that in some cases may be cheaper, easier and more effective than direct funding.
Recommendation 3: A strategic approach to international cultural relations
Recommendation 3: A strategic approach to international cultural relations
Australia has a significant trade deficit in creative goods. Despite this, Australia does not have a creative and cultural export strategy.
Moreover, unlike almost all other major world economies, Australia does not have an international cultural relations institution to focus its cultural relations efforts.
ANA research has highlighted how cultural relations contribute to national peace and security alongside commercial, trade and other diplomatic and reputational objectives.
For Australia to make the most of these opportunities, preliminary work is needed to understand what a strategic, Australian approach to international cultural relations could and should look like. An initial exploratory study would:
- identify existing Australian cultural relations activities and objectives
- conduct case studies of select overseas cultural relations institutions and approaches to cultural diplomacy
- recommend options that Australia could consider and implement in time for the Brisbane 2032 Games.
Failure to act could see Australia lose the unique opportunity provided by Brisbane 2032 to deepen cultural ties with valued overseas partners, bolster our cultural reputation and expand creative industry exports.