Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Arts. Why are the national collecting institutions so important to Australia? What funding situation are they currently in?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for Canberra for the question but also for being an absolute champion of the national collecting institutions. Those collecting institutions are there to make sure that the most precious items of the Australian story are kept safe, are kept publicly available and are kept forever. But if you were to look the budget items for what we were left with, there was also a presumption they'd be kept safe, they'd be kept publicly available and they'd be kept until 30 June this year, because that is when the funding runs out in so many ways for the institutions. Additional funding runs out for the Maritime Museum on 30 June, for the Portrait Gallery on 30 June, for the National Museum on 30 June, for the Bundanon trust on 30 June, for the National Film and Sound Archive on 30 June, for the National Gallery of Australia on 30 June, for the National Library on 30 June and for Old Parliament House on 30 June.

Those opposite have already started interjecting about what a wonderful job they did with respect to the arts and cultural institutions, so wonderful that there's actually a motion on the Notice Paper at the moment from the member for Lyne saying that their arts funding reached 55 million Australians. So with those sorts of numbers they've got quite a story to tell.

Part of telling the Australian story isn't just the institutions themselves but it's about digitising that story and keeping it through the process of Trove. Many members on this side and across the crossbench have contacted me about Trove for some time. Trove is one of the Australian government's most visited online services, with more than 50,000 visits a day, over 1½ thousand digitised newspaper titles and 900 partner organisations. But under their proposal it would be funded until—guess what date—30 June. And at 30 June, the money for the National Library to be able to continue funding Trove was going to finish. It's across all the collecting institutions.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Members on my left.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Maybe they thought the National Gallery would hold the roof up with Blue Poles. Or maybe it would be like Night at the Museum and all the exhibits would start running around and fixing the building themselves every night.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the National Party is to cease interjecting.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Under their funding, the workers don't have a future and the buildings are allowed to leak and collapse. This is the legacy! And they laugh about—

David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was your funding, because you had the last budget!

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the National Party will cease interjecting immediately.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And the Leader of the National Party is laughing about the concept of the building leaking. Think of the value of what's held in the National Gallery. Think of the concept of being custodians of the national story and think about a budget where everything finished on 30 June.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Hume will cease interjecting so I can hear from the member for Deakin.