Reviving Authenticity

In Canberra, the Senate is holding an inquiry into Quadrant Music’s de facto nemesis: the Commonwealth’s new national cultural policy, Revive: A Place for Every Story, a Story for Every Place. The inquiry has received seventy-five wide-ranging submissions from industry leaders, national organisations and independent stakeholders. In March, Quadrant Music revealed how questions about Revive essentially went unanswered by the Department of Arts. It follows, then, that my column this month should explore those submissions made to the inquiry concerning music. Collectively, these submissions traverse much ground; the subsequent analysis highlights those arising matters which I deem to be of particular interest. On the whole, readers should find cause for agreement, but they should also find cause for concern—and, at times, for outrage.

It may well be that the highest objective of any national cultural policy should not be to control, deliver, employ or fund, but to inspire, and…