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CULTURAL FUNDING BY THREE TIERS OF GOVERNMENT



In January 2010, the National Centre for Culture and Recreation Statistics (NCCRS) of the ABS released the annual cultural funding report, Cultural Funding in Australia, Three Tiers of Government 2007-08. This publication is the fourteenth in a series of cultural funding reports produced for the Cultural Ministers Council Statistics Working Group (CMC SWG) by NCCRS.

Information on operational and capital expenditure towards heritage and the arts by the Australian government and state and territory governments was collected via the Cultural Funding by Government survey. Funding by local government towards the arts and cultural activities was sourced from the Local Government Finance Statistics collection undertaken by the ABS. For 2007-08, the local government data was classified according to the Local Government Purpose Classification (LGPC) and not the Government Purpose Classification (GPC) as in previous years. Comparable local government data for the 2006-07 year was available and has been included in the report.

The report provides commentary on cultural funding by the Australian Government, state and territory governments and local governments, as well as more detailed data for each state and territory. Data in this publication has been revised and some categories of funding may differ from those in the ABS publication released in August 2009, Cultural Funding by Government, Australia, 2007-08 (cat. no. 4183.0). The data in the report have been aligned with the industry classification, Australian Culture and Leisure Classifications, Second Edition (cat. no. 4902.0), which was released by the ABS in 2008.

Some key findings for 2007-08 include:

• Total government funding by all levels of government for heritage and arts was $6,132.6m.
• The Australian Government contributed $2,382.2m (39%) to total cultural funding while the state and territory governments contributed $2,750.1m (45%).
• The main categories to receive Australian and state and territory government funding in 2007-08 were: Environmental heritage ($1,424.2m), Radio and television services ($1,355.0m), Other museums and cultural heritage ($548.4m) and Libraries ($387.3m). Libraries also received $653.4m from local government
• Local governments provided $1,000.3m or 16% of funding by all levels of government in 2007-08. Local government cultural funding rose by $74.6m (8%) on 2006-07 when local government funding for cultural activities was $925.7m.
• In 2007-08, cultural funding by all three tiers of government averaged $288.76 per person in Australia. The Australian Government contributed $112.17 per person in 2007-08, state and territory governments provided $129.49 and local governments $47.10.
• Capital expenditure by all levels of government was $752.2m and accounted for 12% of total government cultural funding in 2007-08.