Additional Government investment in national cultural collections welcomed

Wednesday 7 October 2020
For immediate release

Canberra, Australia—The Australian Digital Alliance (ADA) welcomes the allocation of an additional $22.9 million in the Federal Budget announced last night to support our national cultural institutions as they continue to respond to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a media release issued by the Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP stated the funding is to allow the national cultural institutions to ‘continue to showcase Australian history, culture and art to the public, in person and online.’

‘Funding to support access and digitisation is a key part of getting more of Australia’s cultural collections online for all Australians to explore and enjoy,’ said ADA Executive Officer Ben Rice.

‘It is great to see the Budget reflect the important work our cultural collections do to provide on-site and online access to significant historical, cultural and artistic objects,’ said Mr Rice, ‘Now it will be important to ensure that the copyright system enables cultural bodies to share their collections digitally.’

Access reforms announced by the Minister in August will add much needed flexibility to Australia’s copyright law, including making it easier for libraries, archives and other cultural collections to make use of modern technologies to deliver more content online.

‘Digitisation and flexible copyright go hand in hand’, said Mr Rice, ‘The ADA is thrilled to see this investment by the Government in our cultural collections, and view it as fundamental to making the most of the proposed access amendments to the Copyright Act’.

The ADA looks forward to participating in public consultation when draft legislation is released.

For more information about the announcement see the media release issued by the Minister Fletcher on Saturday 26 September 2020. More information on the Copyright access reforms is available on Minister Fletcher’s website and on the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications website.

ENDS