Department of Communications and the Arts (Australia)

Last updated

Department of Communications and the Arts
Department of Communications and the Arts (Australia) logo.png
Department overview
Formed21 September 2015 (2015-09-21)
Preceding Department
Dissolved31 January 2020 (2020-01-31)
Superseding agency
Jurisdiction Commonwealth of Australia
Headquarters Canberra
Minister responsible
Department executive
Child agencies
Website www.communications.gov.au

The Australian Department of Communications and the Arts was a department of the Government of Australia charged with responsibility for communications policy and programs and cultural affairs.

Contents

In December 2019, prime minister Scott Morrison announced that the department would be merged into a new "mega department", the new Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications. In response to criticism from the arts sector, Paul Fletcher, Minister for Communications and the Arts said that the merger was merely administrative and would not result in budget cuts. [1]

History

The department was created in September 2015 following Malcolm Turnbull becoming prime minister, replacing the Department of Communications, and transferring responsibility for the arts from the Attorney-General's Department. [2]

Preceding departments

Operational functions

The Administrative Arrangements Order made on 21 September 2015 detailed the following responsibilities to the department: [3]

Language revival project

As of 2020, the department is funding the Priority Languages Support Project, being undertaken by First Languages Australia. The project aims to "identify and document critically-endangered languages – those languages for which little or no documentation exists, where no recordings have previously been made, but where there are living speakers". It has so far prioritised 20 languages [6]

See also

Notes

  1. There was previously a domestic Return of Indigenous Cultural Property (RICP) program run by the former Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA – 207-2010), which supported the return of both human remains and secret sacred objects from institutions within Australia, but it looks as if the functionality has been incorporated in IRP.

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References

  1. Baker, Nick (11 December 2019). "Government defends axing arts department as a 'good opportunity' for artists". SBS News. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  2. Minute Paper for the Executive Council, Executive Council Meeting No. 21 (PDF), Federal Executive Council, 21 September 2015, archived from the original (PDF) on 30 September 2015, retrieved 4 October 2015
  3. "Administrative Arrangements Order". Commonwealth of Australia. 21 September 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  4. "Indigenous repatriation". Australian Government. Department of Communications and the Arts. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  5. "Aboriginal remains repatriation". Creative Spirits. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  6. "Priority Languages Support Project". First Languages Australia. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2020.