Department of Communications and the Arts

Department of Communications and the Arts
Department overview
Formed	21 September 2015
Preceding Department	Department of Communications ;
Dissolved	31 January 2020
Superseding Department	Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications;
Jurisdiction	Commonwealth of Australia
Headquarters	Canberra
Minister responsible	Paul Fletcher, ; Minister for Communications; Minister for the Arts;
Department executive	Mike Mrdak, Secretary;
Child agencies	Australian Communications and Media Authority; NBN Co Limited; Australian Broadcasting Corporation; Australian Postal Corporation; Special Broadcasting Service Corporation;
Website	www.communications.gov.au

The Australian Department of Communications and the Arts was a department of the Government of Australia charged with responsibility for communications policy and programs and cultural affairs.

In December 2019, prime minister Scott Morrison announced that the department would be merged into a new "mega department", the new Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications. In response to criticism from the arts sector, Paul Fletcher, Minister for Communications and the Arts said that the merger was merely administrative and would not result in budget cuts.^[1]

History

The department was created in September 2015 following Malcolm Turnbull becoming prime minister, replacing the Department of Communications, and transferring responsibility for the arts from the Attorney-General's Department.^[2]

Preceding departments

Postmaster-General's Department (1 January 1901 – 22 December 1975)
Department of the Media (19 December 1972 – 22 December 1975)
Postal and Telecommunications Department (22 December 1975 – 3 November 1980)
Department of Communications (3 November 1980 – 24 July 1987)
Department of Transport and Communications (24 July 1987 – 23 December 1993)
Department of Communications (23 December 1993 – 30 January 1994)
Department of Communications and the Arts (30 January 1994 – 21 October 1998)
Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (21 October 1998 – 3 December 2007)
Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (3 December 2007 – 18 September 2013)
Department of Communications (18 September 2013 – 21 September 2015)

Operational functions

The Administrative Arrangements Order made on 21 September 2015 detailed the following responsibilities to the department:^[3]

Broadband policy and programs
Postal and telecommunications policies and programs
Spectrum policy management
Broadcasting policy
National policy issues relating to the digital economy
Content policy relating to the information economy
Classification
Copyright
Cultural affairs, including movable cultural heritage and support for the arts
- As part of this function, the department administers a programme relating to the return of Aboriginal Australian human remains and cultural objects, the International Repatriation Program (IRP). This programme "supports the repatriation of ancestral remains and secret sacred objects to their communities of origin to help promote healing and reconciliation" and assists community representatives work towards repatriation of remains in various ways.^[4]^[5]^{[note 1]}

Language revival project

As of 2020^[update], the department is funding the Priority Languages Support Project, being undertaken by First Languages Australia. The project aims to "identify and document critically-endangered languages – those languages for which little or no documentation exists, where no recordings have previously been made, but where there are living speakers". It has so far prioritised 20 languages^[6]

Notes

^ There was previously a domestic Return of Indigenous Cultural Property (RICP) program run by the former Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA – 207-2010), which supported the return of both human remains and secret sacred objects from institutions within Australia, but it looks as if the functionality has been incorporated in IRP.

References

^ Baker, Nick (11 December 2019). "Government defends axing arts department as a 'good opportunity' for artists". SBS News. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
^ Minute Paper for the Executive Council, Executive Council Meeting No. 21 (PDF), Federal Executive Council, 21 September 2015, archived from the original (PDF) on 30 September 2015, retrieved 4 October 2015
^ "Administrative Arrangements Order". Commonwealth of Australia. 21 September 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
^ "Indigenous repatriation". Australian Government. Department of Communications and the Arts. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
^ "Aboriginal remains repatriation". Creative Spirits. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
^ "Priority Languages Support Project". First Languages Australia. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2020.

[6] There was previously a domestic Return of Indigenous Cultural Property (RICP) program run by the former Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA – 207-2010), which supported the return of both human remains and secret sacred objects from institutions within Australia, but it looks as if the functionality has been incorporated in IRP.

[1] Baker, Nick (11 December 2019). "Government defends axing arts department as a 'good opportunity' for artists". SBS News. Retrieved 9 February 2021.

[2] Minute Paper for the Executive Council, Executive Council Meeting No. 21 (PDF), Federal Executive Council, 21 September 2015, archived from the original (PDF) on 30 September 2015, retrieved 4 October 2015

[AAO_Sep_2015-3] "Administrative Arrangements Order". Commonwealth of Australia. 21 September 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015.

[govt-4] "Indigenous repatriation". Australian Government. Department of Communications and the Arts. Retrieved 5 May 2019.

[creative-5] "Aboriginal remains repatriation". Creative Spirits. Retrieved 5 May 2019.

[7] "Priority Languages Support Project". First Languages Australia. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2020.

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