The arts are finally on Australia’s national agenda. We need the ABC to cover it

The news confounded the arts industry, and was met with loud opposition across social media, where some pointed to the ABC’s charter, “to encourage and promote the musical, dramatic and other performing arts in Australia”. Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The Guardian

It’s been a momentous week for the arts in Australia: a nation electrified by creative work across all genres, and a transformative new policy enacted as law.

Melbourne’s Rising festival; Tasmania’s Dark Mofo; Sydney’s Vivid and the Sydney film festival, happening at the same time. The Emerging Writers’ festival and the Williamstown literary festival are also on, each celebrating their 20th anniversaries, and on Tuesday this week – ahead of the annual Australian Performing Arts Market – there was a landmark gathering of First Nations performing arts organisations held in Melbourne, mapping out new futures for Indigenous creative workforce development.