EXPLANATORY NOTES
INTRODUCTION
1 This publication contains estimates of Australian public funding for arts and cultural activities, facilities and services for the Australian government, state and territory governments and local governments.
COLLECTION, SCOPE AND COVERAGE
2 Statistics for the Australian Government and state and territory governments were collected through the Survey of Cultural Funding by Government. Information was collected on the amount of recurrent and capital expenditure by Australian and state and territory government departments (including selected authorities, corporations and councils) for heritage and arts cultural activities, facilities and services. Funding from other sources, such as donations, membership costs or entrance fees, has been excluded.
3 Agencies classified by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) as public trading enterprises (e.g. most performing arts venues) are not included in this collection, except to the extent of any subsidies (or capital funding) paid to them from government budgets.
4 Funding by government for major institutions which specialise in education of a cultural nature, such as the National Academy of Music, the National Institute of Dramatic Art, the Australian Ballet School and the Australian Film, Television and Radio School has been included. Funding for special libraries (e.g. parliamentary libraries), libraries in higher education institutions and schools is excluded.
5 In order to ensure that funds are not counted more than once within the whole of government sector, specific purpose grants received from other levels of government have been netted out of the expenditure for the receiving government.
CLASSIFICATION
6 Categories used in this publication have been aligned, where possible, with the Industry Classification from the Australian Culture and Leisure Classifications, 2008 (Second Edition) (cat. no. 4902.0).
SOURCES AND METHODS
Australian Government
7 The Australian Government refers to the federal (national) level of government and was previously referred to as the Commonwealth Government. This change of name is in response to an Australian Government initiative in 2004.
8 Australian Government estimates have been compiled using information provided directly to the ABS by government departments.
State and territory governments
9 State and territory government information was obtained from a range of sources. Departments supplied details of their recurrent and capital expenditure on arts and culture. In addition, a number of agencies and authorities were directly contacted for information upon advice from their respective departments.
Local governments
10 Funding of arts and cultural activities by local government are included as part of the Local Government Finance Statistics collection undertaken by the ABS. From 2007-08, local government data has been classified according to the Local Government Purpose Classification (LGPC). Previously, this data was based on the Government Purpose Classification (GPC) and was available in less detail.
11 Local government estimates should be interpreted with caution as the co-ordination of data undertaken by the ABS does not currently permit detailed data checks at this level of output. This means that some large variations in funding from year to year could not be validated with individual councils. Data is therefore a reflection of the current reporting by councils through the Local Government Grants Commissions, or equivalent in each state or territory.
12 While local government data in this publication are classified according to the LGPC, not all states and territories have fully adopted the classification in terms of their reporting arrangements. For New South Wales, 'Cultural or arts services nec' (LGPC 0829) includes Performing Arts (LGPC 0826 and 0827). For Victoria, 'Cultural or arts services nec' (LGPC 0829) includes data relating to art museums, other museums and cultural heritage, performing arts venues and culture or arts services not elsewhere classified. For the Northern Territory, 'Cultural or arts services nec' (LGPC 0829) includes data relating to art museums, other museums and cultural heritage, performing arts venues, culture or arts services nec, in addition to library data for five councils with responsibility for their own public libraries.
REVISIONS
13 During the course of the 2009-10 collection, some government departments provided revised expenditure estimates for 2007-08 and/or 2008-09. These data revisions have been included in this release.
STATE COMPARISONS
14 Care should be taken when comparing values between states and territories for some categories of funding as the funding details provided may vary according to the administrative arrangements existing in the respective states and territories.
CALCULATION OF PER PERSON FUNDING
15 Estimates of the resident population of Australia and the states and territories at the mid-point (December quarter) of each collection year are used to calculate per person funding. Population estimates have been obtained from Australian Demographic Statistics, Dec 2010 (cat. no. 3101.0).
16 To maintain consistency between levels of government, the same resident population estimates are used for all estimates of per person funding, regardless of the level of government under consideration.
COMPARISON WITH PREVIOUS SURVEY RESULTS
17 It should be noted that changes in the collection methodology and improvements to the scope and coverage occurred in 2007-08. Therefore Australian and state and territory government funding data prior to and including 2006-07 are not comparable with more recent data.
18 Local government data were classified according to the Local Government Purpose Classification (LGPC) for the first time in 2007-08. Previously data were based on the Government Purpose Classification (GPC) and were available in less detail. Comparable local government data for 2006-07 were presented in the 2007-08 publication release.
FURTHER INFORMATION
19 More detailed cultural funding data are published by the Statistics Working Group (SWG) in a 'Cultural Funding in Australia, Three Tiers of Government' annual report following the release of this publication. SWG is a joint working group comprising representatives of a number of Australian Government arts agencies and the government arts agencies of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. The ABS is also a member of this working group.
20 Current publications and other products released by the ABS are available from the ABS web site <http:\\www.abs.gov.au>. The ABS also issues a daily Release Advice on the web site which details products to be released in the week ahead.
21 For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.
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