When glancing across the faces of the new Albanese ministry, you’d be forgiven if you couldn’t name the minister for the arts.

The answer is Tony Burke, quite a senior Labor figure, and so it should be since the arts and creative industries are a significant part of Australia’s economy.

In 2022–23 for example, cultural and creative activity contributed $63.7 billion, some 2.5% of Australia’s GDP. Over the last 15 years, the sector has grown by 62%. The performing arts alone saw its GDP contribution rise from $1.5 billion in 2008-09 to $2.4 billion in 2022–23. The arts employed 282,000 workers in cultural and creative industries in 2021 and more than 300,000 today.

But here’s just one of the problems. Burke is more broadly minister for home affairs and minister for immigration and citizenship and that’s a full-time job for anyone.

But wait, there’s more. He is also minister for cyber security, one of the key elements in Australia’s defensive profile. That’s a job for two people.

And yes, there’s more. He is also the leader of the House and thereby responsible for getting the legislative program of the government through the House of Reps, and running Labor’s tactics in Question Time and whenever the Opposition or the crossbench get rebellious (which is most of the time).

He has a couple of assistant ministers for Immigration and “Emergency Management”, but none for the Arts. That’s Tony’s portfolio and he’s sticking to it. If you think it doesn’t leave much time for listening to the cries of artists, authors, screenwriters and poets scratching a living in their attics and studios as the Whitlam years of financial assistance fade to the shadowy past, the evidence is on your side.

It comes in the form of the most recent initiative of the Arts Ministry. It is dated 2023 (!) and it’s written either by a gibbering bureaucrat or the AI equivalent. It’s called “Revive” which evokes an (appropriate) image of a surfing rescue with Tony giving Aphrodite mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the sand.

No such luck. Revive calls it, “a place for every story, a story for every place”. Honestly, you couldn’t make this stuff up. It continues, “Pillars and Principles – Revive is structured around five interconnected pillars which set out the government’s strategic objectives.

• “First Nations First: Recognising and respecting the crucial place of First Nations stories at the centre of Australia’s arts and culture. (Really?)
• “A place for every story: Reflecting the breadth of our stories and the contribution of all Australians as the creators of culture (Oh dear)
• “Centrality of the Artist: Supporting the artist as worker and celebrating artists as creators. (Honestly!)
• “Strong cultural infrastructure: Providing support across the spectrum (Which spectrum?)
• “Engaging the audience: Making sure our stories connect with people at home and abroad.” (How?)

It then goes on interminably (and equally vapidly) about “Principles”, “Key Measures”, a somewhat scary $199 million over four years to provide “greater strategic oversight” across the sector, and five more pages of pap.

However, I’m happy to report that among them, by 2025 “Writers Australia” will be established within Creative Australia, to provide direct support to the literature sector, including for writers and publishers (?), to grow local and international audiences for Australian books and establish a National Poet Laureate for Australia.’ (If only they included a red editor’s pen for bureaucrats!) Anyway, no sign of it yet. I guess Tony’s been a bit busy.

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.