Tonight I am representing both the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General at the Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS) National Forum in Melbourne. Although Gough Whitlam is considered by many to have been our first PM with a particular policy interest in the arts, his Liberal predecessor Sir John Gorton actually deserves much credit in the area. Given current debates about freedom of expression, and the crucial importance of artistic freedom in democratic societies, I think it’s worth considering this statement from Sir John as PM in 1970: “Investment in the future means tolerating and supporting unfamiliar ideas, experimental forms and new expression. It means ensuring that young people with vision can break with accepted and comfortable tradition and find a climate in which unorthodoxy can flourish.”
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 08:08:14 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015