George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Minister for the Arts and Sport) Share this | Hansard source

It would be nice to be able to say why the government will not be adopting alternative policies. I suppose the simple answer is: because we are interested and the opposition is not, as everybody involved in the arts community in Australia knows. For almost all the life of the Howard government, the arts portfolio has been represented by a Senate minister—Senator Alston; then my illustrious predecessor, Senator Kemp; and now me. I checked to see how often arts ministers have been asked a question in this chamber—