evive’s broad five-year plan is structured on five pillars – First Nations First, A Place for Every Story, the Centrality of the Artist, Strong Cultural Infrastructure, and Engaging the Audience. These pillars are supported by ten guiding principles, twenty-two case studies (just one involving the visual arts) and ninety-five actions. The breadth of actions is vast, from encouraging children to learn a second language to delivering a triennial State of Australian Culture Survey; improving access to services that enhance community wellbeing; and improving the National Broadband Network and regional connectivity. by Christos Tsiolkas and Clare Wright is an essay of missionary zeal, wrapping emotion around what might otherwise be dry policy bones. It presents the government’s political manifesto in a way Labor didn not prior to the last Federal election. The policy locates First Nations at its core and makes its first action to “Implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full.” Its embracing of an all-encompassing notion of culture is threaded throughout the policy.
