Authored by Kim Williams AM Kim Williams AM has had a long involvement in the arts, entertainment and media industries here and overseas and has held various executive leadership positions since the late 1970s including as chief executive at each of News Corp Australia, FOXTEL, Fox Studios Australia, the Australian Film Commission, Southern Star Entertainment and Musica Viva Australia and also as a senior executive at the ABC. Mr Williams was the chief executive of FOXTEL for the decade up until November 2011. At FOXTEL he pioneered many of the major digital broadcast innovations in Australia and received the 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Australian Subscription Television Association (ASTRA) for his diverse contributions. Mr Williams has also held numerous board positions (and chairmanships) in commercial and public life over more than three decades including as inaugural chairman of the Australian Film Finance Corporation (which he founded for the Commonwealth in 1988); chairman of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and of Musica Viva Australia; chairman of the Sydney Opera House Trust from 2005 until 2013; chairman of the Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership; chairman of the Thomson Reuters Trustees; and as deputy chair, of the then NSW State Conservatorium of Music and the Australian National Commission for UNESCO (where he served as Gough Whitlam’s deputy at the 24th General Conference held in Paris in October/November 1987). He was appointed as a member in the Order of Australia in June 2006 for his services to the arts and public policy formulation in the film and television industries. In October 2009 he was awarded a doctorate of letters (honoris causa) by Macquarie University for his contribution to the arts and entertainment industry in Australia and internationally. He is a recipient of numerous other awards and honours in the Australian creative community including the Dorothy Crawford Award from the Australian Writers’ Guild for outstanding contribution to the profession. Kim Williams is a current board member of numerous commercial bodies and foundations and serves as a commissioner of the Australian Football League and as Chairman of the Thomson Reuters Founders Share Company (responsible for the Reuters Trust Principles) and The Copyright Agency. MUP published his first non-fiction book Rules of Engagement in 2014. In addition to these directorships he concentrates on researching, writing, speaking and teaching. Kim Williams is Gough Whitlam’s son-in-law, having married his daughter Catherine. He knew Gough well for over thirty years, so does not pretend to have an unvarnished or pristine view of him or his time in government, nor to having that elusive thing others claim all too readily – objectivity. He is open about his admiration for him. Editing: The Whitlam Institute ISBN: 978-1-74108-499-3 Copyright: The Whitlam Institute within Western Sydney University, 2019 The Whitlam Legacy The Whitlam Legacy is a series of occasional papers published by the Whitlam Institute offering contemporary insights on matters of public interest inspired by Gough Whitlam’s public life and the legacy of the Whitlam Government. About the Whitlam Institute The Whitlam Institute within Western Sydney University at Parramatta commemorates the life and work of Gough Whitlam and pursues the causes he championed. The Institute bridges the historical legacy of Gough Whitlam’s years in public life and the contemporary relevance of the Whitlam Program to public discourse and policy. The Institute exists for all Australians who care about what matters in a fair Australia and aims to improve the quality of life for all Australians. The Institute is custodian of the Whitlam Prime Ministerial Collection housing selected books and papers donated by Mr Whitlam and providing on-line access to papers held both at the Institute and in the National Archives. The other key area of activity, the Whitlam Institute Program, includes a range of policy development and research projects, public education activities and special events. Through this work the Institute strives to be a leading national centre for public policy development and debate. For more information about the Whitlam Institute, please visit our website: www.whitlam.org 1 Foreword At the Whitlam Institute we strive to deliver distinctive, bold and inspiring policy research and programs that promote common ground, inclusive national identity and civic engagement for all Australians. We aim to focus on issues of concern across the political spectrum and to deliver a nation-building agenda that will, as Gough charged us, “…help the great and continuing work of building a more equal, open, tolerant and independent Australia”. Our work is based in the values of integrity, respect, courage, equality and inclusivity as well as passion and creativity. Our goals, across the many different activities we perform, are to honour and keep the Whitlam legacy alive; to empower Australians to be active participants in democratic life; to create more inclusive public policy engagement with a particular focus on social justice and social democracy; and finally to create a space for intellectual and cultural engagement for the people of Western Sydney. Our Whitlam Legacy Series of Occasional Papers offer contemporary insights on matters of public interest inspired by Gough Whitlam’s public life and the legacy of the Whitlam Government. This latest,Whitlam, The Arts and Democracy, by Kim Williams AM provides an accurate and reliable underpinning for a national conversation about the importance of a thriving arts and cultural policy, community and infrastructure to sustain a healthy and vibrant democracy. As part of our policy research into the future of Australian democracy, the “Whitlam, the Arts and Democracy” project was launched through our 2019 art exhibition: Dedicated to the Dedicated: Whitlam, the Arts and Democracy which showcased a series of interviews with prominent artists whose careers have been impacted by Whitlam’s arts and culture policies. That exhibition is now being prepared for touring nationally. Kim William’s paper now examines the impact of Whitlam era arts and culture policies on Australian culture, institutions and identity. There is no one better placed to offer this analysis than he and the Institute is indebted to him for the time and energy he has invested in this Paper. Moving forward the Whitlam Institute aims to facilitate a national conversation on the importance of the arts and culture to a vibrant and healthy democracy. We believe the time is right for such a dialogue when, as Alison Croggon has argued, ‘The notion that arts funding is about investing in artists so they can make art, sure in the knowledge that doing so is in itself a public good, feels like a quaint memory’1. We welcome you to join this important conversation. Leanne Smith Director of the Whitlam Institute 1 https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2019/october/1569374077/alison-croggon/desertification- australian-culture 2 T H E W H I T L A M L E GAC Y W H I T L A M , T H E A RT S A N D DE MO C R AC Y An Occasional Paper for the Whitlam Institute Kim Williams AM The legacy of Gough Whitlam is writ large across Australian society to this day, but nowhere was his impact as profound as in his devotion to the intellectual and creative life and aspiration of Australians. It is overdue to recall the actions of the Whitlam government and the policy resonances from its decisions and actions, which repose from it in Australia today. Whitlam’s was a commitment which was unprecedented in Australian history. It has been matched only once since – by Paul Keating’s Creative Nation policy which was released 25 years ago in October 1994. A BOLD COMMITMENT TO NEW HORIZONS A centrepiece of the bold election manifesto delivered on 13 November 1972 saw the arts elevated. They were featured equally with undertakings as to a huge range of policy initiatives of a breadth and scope never seen before or since in Australian political life. Although the ALP, uniquely in Australian national political life, has sustained a commitment to the publication of a national policy platform with a substantial cultural policy commitment ever since. Unusually other parties have reflected superficial approaches to arts and culture policy or increasingly have had none at all – as seen, hard as it may be to believe, in the case of the Liberal Party in the last three federal elections which were without any published cultural policy. Whitlam announced in his policy speech of 1972 a program which had three central aims: to promote equality; to involve the people of Australia in the decision-making processes of our land; and to liberate the talents and uplift the horizons of the Australian people.1 After a mounting cavalcade of far reaching policies to give new meaning to this young nation addressing “liberty, equality and fraternity” which encompassed: the rights of children; education for all; a universal health insurance system; a national compensation scheme; land and housing initiatives; the abolition of conscription; Aboriginal land rights; open government; recast economic planning horizons with regard to taxation, prices, the basic pension rate, social welfare and superannuation; industrial relations; cities, sewerage and transport; regional development, primary industries and northern development; Whitlam launched into our quality of life! And there, for a political first in our nation, he spelt out initiatives designed: to promote a standard of excellence in the arts; to widen access to, and the understanding and application of, the arts in the community generally; to help establish and express an Australian identity through the arts; and to promote an awareness of Australian culture abroad.2 1 ALP Policy Speech Blacktown Town Hall 13 November, 1972 2 Ibid 3 In that far reaching policy speech so rich with detail, he went to specifics, saying: We believe that the existing Commonwealth agencies should be brought within a single council set up by statute.