When we talk about arts funding, we tend to look back fondly, nostalgically, to the time of Gough Whitlam, who advanced the national arts approach begun by John Gorton's Liberal government several years prior. Throughout the 1970s, Whitlam created various national arts, film and media institutions to extend the vision of art for the public good, and made those working in the arts feel dignified for what they gave to others with their intangible abilities.
A key tenet of Commonwealth arts policy from 1972 to 1975 was that the newly created Australia
