On 13 March 2013, the former Minister for the Arts, Simon Crean, launched the
National Cultural Policy —
Creative Australia— the successor to Creative Nation delivered by Paul Keating in 1994. As the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, stated, the policy is ‘a fresh expression of the values and priorities that will sustain Australia as a richly creative society in the 21st century’. It ‘continues the spirit of engagement with the arts embraced by my predecessors Gough Whitlam and Paul Keating, and affirms the centrality of the arts to our national identity, social cohesion and economic success’. The much anticipated release of Creative Australia has been long awaited with the policy being developed since the
consultation process first commenced in 2009.
