Outcome 1 - Resources for outcomes

A rich and stimulating cultural environment and a stronger, sustainable and internationally competitive Australian sports sector.

	(1) Budget* 2001-02 $'000	(2) Actual expenses 2001-02 $'000	Variation (column 2 minus column 1) $'000	Budget** 2002-03 $'000
Administered expenses (including third party outputs)	182 228	165 377	(16 851)	147 418
Total administered expenses	182 228	165 377	(16 851)	147 418
Price of Departmental outputs
Output 1.1 Strategic policy advice, support and awareness for the cultural and sport sectors	34 241	22 177	(12 064)	29 636
Output 1.2 Increase awareness, knowledge and understanding of the Centenary of Federation and encourage participation in events celebrating the Centenary	10 522	11 267	745	Nil
Output 1.3 Understanding and knowledge of Australian history, culture and portraiture through access to Old Parliament House and the National Portrait Gallery	9 421	9 867	446	9 740
Revenue from Government (Appropriation) for Departmental outputs	40 262	43 311	3 049	34 310
Revenue from other sources	13 922	15 657	1 735	5 066
Total price of outputs	54 184	58 968	4 784	39 376
TOTAL FOR OUTCOME 1 (Total price of outputs and administered expenses)	236 412	224 345	(12 067)	186 794

* Full-year budget, including additional estimates. These figures may not be the same as the Budget figures in Note 20A to the Financial Statements

as the additional estimates resourcing has been included in this table.

** Budget prior to additional estimates.

Average staffing level	2001-02	2002-03
	243	222

The Department provides strategic advice to the Government on arts and sport policy issues, administers programs and assists the work of the arts and sport bodies established within the Portfolio. The sport function was incorporated into the Outcome following the machinery of government changes in November 2001. Key administrative challenges in this outcome have been the smooth integration of the Sport function into the Department and the winding down of the Centenary of Federation and Federation Fund programs.

The following developments had a particular influence on the arts and sport functions during 2001-02:

• higher Government funding of cultural and sporting activities has been complemented by efforts to increase private sector support through philanthropy and sponsorship. Changes to the philanthropy incentives introduced in 2000 have seen a rise in the volume of cultural gifts and cash donated to cultural bodies;
• Australia continued to attract a large number of foreign film productions creating employment, income and development opportunities for the Australian film industry. A film package was announced in September 2001, aimed at strengthening these trends; and
• there has been a growing international focus on doping in sport and significant steps have been taken in the development of a World Anti-Doping Code.

The Department administers several programs related to the Centenary of Federation. It also administers funding for touring through Visions of Australia, Festivals Australia and Playing Australia (funded through the Cultural Development Program), funding of training institutions such as the National Institute of Dramatic Art and the Australian Youth Orchestra, and funding to authors and publishers through the Education Lending Right (ELR) and Public Lending Right Schemes. In addition, the Department administers tax incentive programs for the arts and film sectors. With the transfer of the sports function came the responsibility for the funding of grants through the National Recreation and Safety Grants Program.

Departmental Outputs

Output 1.1: Strategic policy advice, support and awareness for the cultural and sport sectors.

Performance indicators

• Timely and high quality advice provided to the Government on cultural and sport matters.
• Grant recipients report as appropriate on the range of performance, audience reach, critical acclaim, international response, as well as recognition and achievements of graduating students.
• Relative level of private sector support for the arts, humanities and sport.
• Impact of assisted tours of performances and cultural exhibitions and festivals.
• Client satisfaction with the ELR Scheme (reported under administered Items for this output).
• Extent to which Register of Cultural Organisations and Cultural Gifts Program clients are familiar with, and maximising the benefits of the programs, including the new philanthropy provisions.
• Production of high quality Australian film, television and multimedia content.
• Relative level of private sector support of cultural activity through the Register of Cultural Organisations and Cultural Gifts Program.
• Level of online access to cultural information.
• Number and value of international exhibitions indemnified.
• Percentage of Indigenous communities notified of the existence of their cultural property in Commonwealth and state museums in comparison with the number of communities cultural property represented in these museum's collections.
• Level of domestic audience reach by Commonwealth film and television investments.
• Implement the Sport and Leisure Industry Strategic National Plan and the Tough on Drugs Strategy.
• Timely assessment of annual reports submitted by the Commonwealth cultural and sports agencies.

The Department provides strategic advice to the Minister on cultural and sports issues promoting excellence, access, participation and sustainability in the cultural and sport sectors. This financial year, the Department provided policy advice and analysis on a broad range of issues including, for example, public liability insurance, agencies' governance, funding for the National Museum of Australia and support of the national cultural training institutions.

The Department's advice to the Minister on budget issues helped support an increase in funding of $37.2 million over four years commencing in 2002-03 to the National Museum of Australia, and funding increases to a number of the national cultural training institutions including in particular, the National Institute for Dramatic Art and the National Institute of Circus Art. Analysis provided by the Department on public liability insurance issues affecting the arts and sport sectors enabled the Minister to ensure that the needs of these sectors were considered as part of the broader whole-of-government agenda.

In addition to the following performance analysis, other key outcomes for Output 1.1 include:

• provision of secretariat support to Mr Rupert Myer who completed the Contemporary Visual Arts and Craft Inquiry in June 2002;
• agreement by the Cultural Ministers Council to establish the National Collections Advisory Forum, and to undertake a major redevelopment of the Australian Museums
• On-Line website;
• establishment of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games Taskforce to oversight arrangements for Commonwealth security and non-security services; and
• establishment of a Corporate Governance Unit to encourage the adoption of better practice principles on governance within portfolio arts and sport agencies.

A discussion and analysis of the Department's key achievements impacting on performance for this output is set out below.

Cultural program management and delivery

Programs managed by the Department provided more than $100 million in funding support for a number of cultural organisations and activities across Australia. This included funding under the Cultural Development Program, the Regional Arts Fund and the Federation Fund. Many of these programs are discussed under the Administered Items for Outcome 1.

The Regional Arts Fund, totalling $2.5 million, provides a range of projects targeted to regional Australia. Management of the Fund is devolved from the Department to state regional arts organisations and territory government arts portfolios in order that funding is more closely targeted to the needs of regional communities. Under formal funding agreements, the Department maintained a close liaison role with, and monitoring of, these administering organisations. Reporting by the organisations confirmed that the Program is being managed effectively and is delivering significant support to regional, rural and remote communities.

Two funding rounds were completed during the year and examples of projects funded include:

• the Writers Ontour Outback which toured eight regional Queensland communities to raise awareness of, and interest in, Australian books and writing in regional Queensland;
• the Arts Run Initiative which presented a series of skills development workshops by local artists and art workers for artists and art workers in the Alice Springs region; and
• the Biting Dog Theatre Festival, an interactive festival for secondary school students in the Albury/Wodonga region covering all facets of staging a festival including performance, administration, technical production and stage management.

Online access to cultural information

The Culture and Recreation Portal is part of the Commonwealth Government's customer focused portals framework. It provides access for Australians and international visitors to information about Australian culture, to the websites of Australian culture and recreation organisations, and to services and resources for cultural and recreation organisations. The level of online access to cultural information through the Culture and Recreation Portal increased from 1800 Australian websites on arts and culture and sports and recreation in 1999-2000 to more than 2000 websites this financial year. In 2001-02, the number of visitors per month to the Culture and Recreation Portal rose by eight per cent, from 120 000 to 130 000 visitors.

This financial year, the Australian Museums and Galleries Online Website content expanded with the addition of 13 new collections and 1004 new records with images.

Cultural philanthropy

The Register of Cultural Organisations (ROCO) supports approved cultural organisations through tax deductibility of donations, and the Cultural Gifts Program (CGP) encourages the donation of significant cultural items to public libraries, museum and galleries by offering donors a tax deduction. The extent to which ROCO and CGP clients are familiar with, and are maximising benefits of, these programs is evident from the overall increase in participation levels.

Organisations listed on the ROCO received a total of $11.3 million in donations during the first half of 2001-02. (Returns for the second half of the year are yet to be received by the Department.) By comparison, over the first half of 2000-01, organisations received $8.4 million in donations and the total rose to $24 million by the end of the year. The number of ROCO organisations has increased from 793 in December 2000 to 826 in December 2001.

Donations under the CGP considered by the Committee on Taxation and Incentives for the Arts during 2001-02 were valued at $27.5 million. This included two exceptionally large donations. The comparable figure for 2000-01 was $18.2 million.

Throughout the year, the Department focused its promotional efforts on the enhancements to program incentives introduced during 1999-2000 and the benefits to both donors and the cultural sector through participation in ROCO and CGP. A new communications strategy has been developed for implementation in 2002-03.

Personal and business information collected in respect of the cultural taxation incentives program is managed in accordance with the Information Privacy Principles of the Privacy Act 1988.

Graph 1: Donations - Register of Cultural Organisations

Art collections

Art Indemnity Australia helped provide public access to a large number of significant artworks and cultural treasures drawn from public and private collections around the world. The Commonwealth indemnified five exhibitions which toured to Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Canberra during the financial year. The exhibitions were:

• Gold and Civilization;
• Monet and Japan;
• Renior to Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musee de l'Orangerie Paris;
• Treasures from the World's Great Libraries; and
• The Italians: Three Centuries of Italian Art.

This was the first financial year in which Art Indemnity Australia has been underwritten by Comcover insurance. This placed the program on a more certain footing by reducing the Commonwealth's exposure to risk.

The first two of these exhibitions were held to celebrate the Centenary of Federation, which lead to an increase in the number of exhibitions from three to five. This increase also produced a rise in the number of people visiting indemnified exhibitions which totalled close to 600 000 visitors in 2001-02, compared with 470 000 in 2000-01. The total value of indemnified exhibitions in 2001-02 was $2 030 671 247, an increase of $500 million from the previous year.

The Department's administration of Artbank, a self-funding organisation purchasing the work of contemporary Australian artists and renting them to the private and public sector, contributes to this output by creating market opportunities for emerging Australian artists and enhancing access to Australian art. At the beginning of the financial year there were 8631 works in the collection. During the year, 246 works were purchased from 144 artists to the value of $606 500, and

54 works were disposed of, including eight that were lost, 44 were sold and two damaged beyond repair. This resulted in a collection of 8823 works at the end of the financial year. The works were valued at $18 820 605 which represents an increase of $5 516 587 from the previous year.

More than 6000 works from the Artbank collection were displayed during 2001-02, some 43 per cent of which were displayed by private sector organisations, with state and local governments displaying a further 3.5 per cent of the collection. Of the 53.5 per cent displayed by the Commonwealth Government, nearly 28 per cent were located in overseas posts. In addition, Artbank developed an exhibition of Tiwi Islands artwork to tour Australian Embassies and High Commissions over the next three years.

To celebrate 21 years of supporting Australian visual artists, Artbank printed 470 copies of

a commemorative publication called Artbank: Australian art in public spaces. The publication is helping to increase public awareness of the breadth and quality of Artbank's collection, and the Commonwealth's commitment to promoting the visual arts to a wide audience.

Indigenous cultural property

The Return of Indigenous Cultural Property Program (RICP) is an initiative of Cultural Ministers Council and supports the return to Indigenous communities of ancestral remains and secret sacred objects held in museum collections. Eight museums participate in and fund the preparation of material for return to communities, community liaison and consultation, and actual return. The participating museums are the seven state and territory museums and the National Museum of Australia.

By the end of the 2001-02 financial year, a number of significant outcomes were achieved including the development of databases by all participating museums of their holdings of ancestral remains and secret sacred objects, and the commencement of notifying communities of their holdings of provenanced material. The museums successfully repatriated 231 items of cultural property and reached agreement on transfer of ownership, or actual transfer, for an additional 681 objects. Transfer of ownership is a significant milestone in the repatriation process and is often the first step in returning materials to communities.

Commonwealth Film Program

The Department monitors and evaluates the effectiveness of the Commonwealth's film program, and develops policy and programs for creating and integrating new technologies across Australia's cultural sector.

The Commonwealth Film Program is delivered through a range of film agencies-the Australian Film Commission, the Australian Film Finance Corporation, Film Australia and the Australian Film, Television and Radio School. Assistance for film production is also provided through the Official Co-Production Program, Foreign Actors Entry Scheme and the film tax incentives offered through Divisions 10BA and 10B of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 and the Film Licensed Investment Company Scheme.

Graph 2: Domestic box office revenue for Australian films, 1991 to 2001

In September 2001, the Government announced a funding package for Australia's local film industry worth $92.7 million over the next five years. The package significantly increases support for the local industry with funding targeted at all levels of activity including training and development, film and television production, and boosting the broadband capacity of the post-production sector.

As part of the package, the Government also introduced a refundable tax offset, which will provide an incentive for larger budget film production to locate in Australia. Eligible films completed on, or after, 4 September 2001 can claim the offset. The tax offset has been designed to keep Australia competitive in an increasingly global film production environment, and is expected to boost significantly opportunities for Australian film production services industries and for performers and creative personnel to gain experience on international film productions.

Following consultation with domestic and international film production industries, the Department, in association with the Australian Taxation Office and the Treasury, managed the development and passage of the legislation which implemented the tax offset-the Taxation Laws (Film Incentives) Act 2002. The Act gained royal assent in April 2002 and, after a further consultation process, the Department gazetted the Scheme's Ministerial Rules and finalised the administrative procedures in June 2002, meeting the timetable which had been advised to the industry for the implementation of the offset.

The Government introduced the Film Licensed Investment Company (FLIC) Scheme in 1998-99 to test new methods for the Government and industry to work together to raise investment for high-quality local film production. The Scheme allows investors to obtain a 100 per cent tax deduction by way of a concessional investment in a licensed company. In April 1999, the Macquarie Film Corporation and Content Capital Limited were granted FLIC licenses under the Scheme.

As at June 2002, both companies had fully invested their concessional capital in qualifying Australian productions. Released in July 2002, Dirty Deeds was the first release for Macquarie Film Corporation, and Content Capital invested in a number of film and television productions including The Monkey's Mask and The Ban.

The Commonwealth's film agencies-the Australian Film Commission, the Australian Film Finance Commission and Film Australia-produced a range of quality Australian film, television and multimedia content through the Commonwealth film program this financial year. In the 2001 calendar year¹ there were 27 Australian film releases in total.

Graph 3: Australian films' percentage share of total domestic box office 1991-2001

Key achievements for film, television and multimedia productions include:

• Ivan Sen's feature film Beneath Clouds which won the Premiere First Movie Award for Director (Ivan Sen) at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival;
• television mini-series My Brother Jack which won the Award for Best Telefeature or Miniseries at the Australian Film Institute Award ceremony, November 2001;
• Film Australia's innovative multimedia production Mabo - The Native Title Revolution was a finalist for several international multimedia awards including the British BAFTA awards. It also won the 2001 ATOM award for Best Multimedia, and the Australian Interactive Multimedia Industry Association award for excellence in arts and culture;
• the FFC-funded television mini-series Blue Murder was screened for the first time in NSW in July-August 2001 and achieved high peak audience figures averaging around 400 000 viewers for that State alone on each of the two nights it was broadcast; and
• the FFC-funded television mini-series,
• Do or Die attracted a strong peak audience of around 1.2 million viewers nationally on each of the two nights it was screened in July 2001.

The Australian film industry produced a strong box office performance in the 2001 calendar year.² Australian feature films attracted a 7.8 per cent share of the market at the Australian box office generating $63.4 million in gross takings-the fifth highest share since 1990 and the highest total ever recorded in dollar terms.

Sport

The Department is responsible for advising the Government on several key sports issues. Specifically, the Department coordinates policy advice for the World Anti-Doping Agency, supports the implementation of the national strategy for the sport and leisure industry, coordinates statutory appointments in the Government's sports agencies, manages the Commonwealth's support for national recreation safety organisations, and coordinates the Commonwealth's involvement in the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games.

In 2001-02 the Department undertook a number of initiatives directed towards implementing the Government's sport and leisure industry strategic national plan-Game Plan 2006. The Implementation Committee's key outcomes this financial year include the provision of funds to Australia Sport International (ASI) to support activities that deliver export opportunities for Australian sport and leisure companies, the provision of funds to ASI to hold networking functions for Australian sport businesses, and sponsoring the 2001 Australian Sport Export Award.

In April 2002, the Minister for Arts and Sport, Senator Rod Kemp, co-chaired the fourth meeting of the International Inter-governmental Consultative Group on Anti-Doping in Sport (IICGADS) forum. The Minister has undertaken to deliver a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to the fifth IICGADS meeting in December 2002. The Department convened a planning committee for the IICGADS meeting and, with Canada, continues to lead the drafting committee for MOU working group.

During the year, the Department facilitated a visit by the Monitoring Group of the Council of Europe's Anti-Doping Convention to which Australia is a signatory. The Monitoring Group assessed the Commonwealth's anti-doping policies and procedures and found them to be compliant with its provisions. Specifically their August 2001 report Report of the Examining Group-Visit to Australia commented: 'In many respects and areas, the measures introduced by the relevant Australian body have been groundbreaking innovations. In many fields, these and other measures are now regarded as amongst the best of their kind. Australia can certainly claim to have one of the most, if not the most, rigorous anti-doping policy and programs in the world.'

The Department contributed to the development of the draft World Anti-Doping Code, which was released for consideration in June 2002 and is scheduled for endorsement in March 2003 at a World Anti-Doping Conference.

During 2001, the Commonwealth approved the establishment of an expert panel to advise on the allocation of anti-doping research funds for the year 2001-02 and beyond. The formal establishment of the Anti-Doping Research Panel was delayed by administrative factors pertaining to remuneration and will be implemented in 2002-03.

Assessment of annual reports

Consistent with the Department's role in providing advice to the Minister on matters relevant to his portfolio responsibilities, the Department assessed and provided briefing to the Minister on cultural and sport agencies' annual reports.

Performance indicators

• Degree of satisfaction of the National Council and the Minister with Secretariat services, quality and timeliness.
• Degree to which the communications strategy and the celebratory activities are effectively integrated to ensure widespread community knowledge and interest in the activities and the delivery of activities that are relevant to the community.
• Newspaper and magazine advertisements and community service announcements for television produced by the National Council effectively promoted general awareness of Centenary themes.
• The effective and efficient administration of the History and Education Program.
• Levels of awareness across the community of the centenary and proposed celebratory activities increase (as measured by community sample surveys).
• The range of national celebratory activities are delivered around the country (featuring at least one major event in each state and territory) and across the year (featuring a major event approximately every month of 2001) leading ultimately to widespread community involvement.

The National Council for the Centenary of Federation (COF) coordinated commemorations throughout the 2001 calendar year. Activities for the first half of that year were reported in the Department's 2000-01 Annual Report. Centenary events and celebrations touched tens of thousands of Australians through major commemorative events, community level festivals, special activities in schools and through commemorative publications, memorabilia and extensive media coverage.

The National Council for COF comprised 17 members. Eight were appointed by the Commonwealth, each state and territory government nominated a representative and there was one local government representative. The National Council coordinated planning and implementation of the National Centenary Program with committees appointed by each state and territory. At its peak, the National Secretariat comprised 28 staff members.

Policy advice to the National Council and briefings for Commonwealth Ministers covered a range of Council's operations including the national communications strategy, the COF History and Education Program, national and international COF events, sponsorship and merchandising. The publications and briefings were delivered to Council and the Minister to agreed standards and timelines.

Through its History and Education Program, the Council offered grants to support projects encouraging Australians to gain a better understanding of the events leading to Australia's Federation, reflecting on the changes that had taken place in Australia in the past 100 years and looking ahead to Australia's future as a nation. Of the 120 projects funded under the History and Education Program, 117 delivered outcomes including a television series broadcast nationally, radio programs, touring exhibitions, online and CD-ROM resources and books and journals about Australian history. Completion of the outstanding projects will depend on publishing schedules dictated by publishers and therefore outside the control of grant recipients.

In order to measure the effectiveness of communications activity, the National Council commissioned three rounds of national tracking and evaluation research between 1999 and 2002, with a special additional round in August 2001. Each round involved large sample telephone surveys and qualitative group discussions involving members of target audiences. Sample sizes varied between 1500 and 2000.

Initial research conducted in 1997, noted that only 27 per cent of Australians were able accurately to define the concept 'Federation'. By 1999, this number grew to 59 per cent, by January 2001 it was 73 per cent and by August 2001 the figure reached 84 per cent.

National research from January 2002 - undertaken by Eliot and Shanahan Research-showed four in ten, or 38 per cent, of Australians participated in a COF event during 2001. Of these, the majority, 85 per cent, considered it important for the Centenary year activities to be decentralised to ensure the best possible participation. Recall of Centenary Year advertising and promotion peaked at 80 per cent in January 2002 compared with 32 per cent in 1999.

The Council's website continued to attract attention during the second half of 2001. Although peak usage was recorded on 8 May 2001 with over 4300 visits, visits for the remainder of the year, allowing for peaks coinciding with major events, averaged approximately 1200 per day.

The national events program for the second half of 2001 included the following:

July: Regional Queensland, Charleville, Longreach, Cloncurry, Charters Towers, Emerald and Roma, Federation Airshows in the Outback

August: Townsville, Federation North Fire and Water

September: Alice Springs, Yeperenye Festival

October: Perth, COF Youth Festival
Adelaide, Federation Week: An Australian Mosaic
South Australia/Western Australia, Tracks to Federation East West Rail Commemoration

November: Canberra, Peoplescape

December: Launceston, The Gathering

Peoplescape concert secured extensive coverage and promotion of Centenary themes to a national television audience. Both the events were broadcast on ABC Television, with Yeperenye broadcasted live on Sunday 25 November 2001. Each event attracted audiences of close to 100 000 people.

Output 1.3: Understanding and knowledge of Australian history, culture and portraiture through access to Old Parliament House and the National Portrait Gallery.

Performance indicators

• Interpretation of Old Parliament House (OPH) as a key heritage site in accordance with the OPH Interpretation Plan.
• Enhanced visitor experience through the provision of high quality visitor services, exhibitions, public and education programs at OPH and the National Portrait Gallery (NPG).
• Repairs and maintenance of OPH are carried out in accordance with the OPH Master Building Plan.
• Conservation of OPH is carried out in accordance with the OPH 2000 Conservation Management Plan and heritage studies.
• Further development of a national portrait collection recognised for its national inclusiveness and quality.
• Further development of the NPG as a centre for the understanding of Australian portraiture and history.
• Wider national reach of NPG programs, in particular through travelling exhibitions and online activities.
• Relative increase in visitor numbers and the numbers of school and college groups participating in OPH and NPG education programs.
• Major interpretation of key heritage spaces; undertake five OPH exhibitions; two major OPH events; one new OPH tour; two new interpreted spaces; six oral history interviews; seven NPG exhibitions and two NPG seminars; a sponsored NPG anniversary lecture with a speaker of international status; with a range of educational and public events and activities to complement each exhibition.
• Relative increase in donations of works of art, project sponsorship and acquisition funds to the NPG.
• Research and planning for major projects and completion of the refurbishment of the Australian Federation Centre.

The Department is responsible for the administration, management and preservation of Old Parliament House (OPH) and the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) which are located in Canberra's Parliamentary Triangle.

This financial year, OPH celebrated the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of with a program of activities spread throughout the year, including a range of new exhibitions, room openings, debates and other special events. OPH managed the completion of the Australian Federation Centre, including an exhibition area commemorating the Centenary of the Australian Public Service, which incorporated contributions from all Commonwealth departments and major agencies. The exhibition has been well received by general visitors to OPH. Other highlights include the establishment of the NPG's 'friends' group, the Circle of Friends; and presentation of the NPG Anniversary lecture by Michael Kimmelman, Chief Art Critic of the New York Times newspaper.

Combined visitor numbers to OPH and NPG were 171 582 during 2001-02, a decrease of

0.5 per cent on the previous year's figures. OPH and NPG school and student visitor numbers increased by one per cent from 30 741 in the previous financial year to 31 121 in 2001-02. In the first eight months of 2001-02, OPH experienced a 14 per cent increase in visitors. As a result of a general downturn in visitors to Canberra during the last four months of the reporting period, OPH experienced a small decrease of 0.5 per cent in visitors to the House for the year overall.

OPH and the NPG both presented a range of on-site programs, such as lectures and special events to community and adult groups. The NPG presented on-site programs to 4278 members of such groups, including life-long learners, and off-site programs to a further 1500 people representing a diverse range of community groups both in Australia and New Zealand. These groups were not separately identified in the previous year, but have now been targeted as part of the NPG's program of better understanding its audience, further developing that audience and extending the range of its programs.

Old Parliament House

In accordance with the OPH Interpretation Plan and its listing as a heritage site, an upgrade of the Prime Minister's suite, a number of Senate offices and the Office of the Leader of the Government of the Senate was undertaken and these re-opened during 2001-02. OPH continued to repair and maintain the building in accordance with the Building Master Plan, and developed a Life Cycle Costing Plan, a new and comprehensive long-term program for OPH's maintenance and repair. OPH commenced an access study examining current access arrangements, levels of compliance with current guidelines and possible proposals to upgrade building elements as necessary.

OPH and the NPG took account of a range of social justice and equity issues when designing public and school programs, events, exhibitions and visitor services this financial year. For example, all 140 OPH volunteer guides received specialised training in helping hearing-impaired visitors. Further improvements to front-of-house disabled access were made in 2001-02. NPG Gallery assistants attended training and development programs, specifically to understand the needs of the hearing impaired and the visually impaired. The NPG has multiple copies of large format labels for visitors with visual impairment.

OPH continued conserving the building in accordance with the 2000 Conservation Management Plan, with a heritage study of the north wing finalised in December 2001, completing a set of comprehensive heritage studies for all areas of the building. These are available through the OPH Resources Centre.

OPH is committed to providing a range of high quality visitor services and public programs targeting the needs and interests of both the general public and specialised markets.

In 2001-02, activities such as lectures and complementary events were held in conjunction with major exhibitions, including A Brush With Politics and Our House. OPH continued development of education programs, holiday workshops and new tours.

OPH staff worked on a wide range of educational and public events and activities this financial year. OPH created a new public tour called Family Secrets and Stories, an interactive, family-oriented tour of areas of the building not generally seen by the general public, and completed eight oral histories as part of the oral history program. In the previous year OPH had introduced two new or substantially revised tours and commenced its oral history program, conducting three interviews.

Other achievements include:

Major exhibitions for OPH during the 2001-02 financial year:

Dismissed! Whitlam, Fraser, Kerr and The Story of 1975
A Brush With Politics: The Life and Work of John Frith
Bringing the House Down (in conjunction with the National Museum of Australia)
Smugglers, Customs & Contraband (in conjunction with the National Maritime Museum and the Australian Customs Service)
Icons: Images of 20th Century Architecture
Our House: The Story Of Old Parliament House

Smaller scale exhibitions:

Black Gold: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sporting Hall of Fame (presented in conjunction with the NPG).
National Schools Banner Competition.
Queen Mother Commemorative Exhibition.
Sir John Gorton Commemorative Exhibition.
In addition, OPH staff presented public programs to complement major exhibitions.

Major events staged by OPH during the financial year:

A re-enactment of the 9 May 1927 official opening.
An 'Open Weekend' on 11-12 May, with free entry and a range of associated activities.
A series of Night Sittings' debates, discussions and hypotheticals on a range of topical issues.

National Portrait Gallery

The NPG further developed its role as a centre for the understanding of Australian portraiture and history through the presentation of 11 exhibitions, six lectures (including its annual Anniversary lecture), nine seminars and numerous 'floor talks'. This compares with eight exhibitions, three lectures (including the Anniversary Lecture), four seminars and numerous floor talks in 2000-01.

The NPG continued to enhance the national portrait collection, which now consists of 439 works (256 gifts and 183 purchases and commissions). During 2001-02 the NPG acquired 243 works for the permanent collection, an increase of 46 acquisitions from the 2000-01 financial year.

The NPG further broadened its national reach by showing two of its exhibitions at interstate venues These were William Yang: Australian Chinese, which was shown at the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Victoria, and David Moore's Face to Face which was shown at Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne and Arts Global Link in Ipswich, Queensland. Further enhancements to the NPG website contributed to increased public accessibility of the collection, with approximately two million visits to the site during the year, similar to the levels achieved in 2000-01. Other initiatives that increased the national reach of NPG programs were the establishment of Circle of Friends group and the launch of the group's quarterly magazine, Portrait.

Major exhibitions for NPG for the 2001-02 financial year:

Australian Legends - stamps by David Moore
Tête-a-Tête Portraits by Henri Cartier-Bresson
Nolan Heads
Fuzzy Prime Ministers of Australia
Hearts+Heads: Headspace II
William Yang: Australian Chinese
Black Gold: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sporting Hall of Fame (presented in conjunction with OPH)
So you wanna be a Rock Star?
Intimate Portraits
The Story So Far
Sir William Dargie: 90th Birthday Tribute
The NPG staff presented a range of public programs to complement these exhibitions including public lectures, informal gallery talks and learning programs.

NPG seminars and events for the 2001-02 financial year:

Portraiture: Its History, Development and Collection
Tête-a-Tête Portraits by Henri Cartier-Bresson
Drawing from Life
Life Masks: Mould, replicate and decorate Silhouette Portraits
Lecture by English portraiture specialist, Dr Francis Borzello
Portraiture and Place (a day-long seminar at the University of Tasmania, Hobart)
Devotional Pose: Student/Artist Collaboration
Black and White: Exploring positive and negative space
Looking at, seeing and curating art
Third anniversary lecture delivered by Mr Michael Kimmelman, Chief Art Critic of The New York Times

In 2001-02, the NPG received 174 artwork gifts valued at $594 020. In addition, NPG received $162 792 in cash donations to its trust fund-compared with $2 875 052 in the previous financial year. This variation is explained by the substantial, one-off donation towards the acquisition of a major work: John Webber's Portrait of Captain James Cook RN valued at $6.25 million.

Sponsorship plays an important role for the NPG and this financial year cash sponsorships totalled $63 534, compared with $47 500 in the previous financial year, an increase of 34 per cent. The NPG also received $41 643 in grants from private foundations, compared with $41 550 in 2000-01.

Administered items

Cultural Development Program

Performance indicators

• Grant recipients report as appropriate on the range of performances, audience reach, critical acclaim, international response, as well as recognition and achievements of graduating students, and success in increasing corporate sector support for the arts.
• Impact of assisted touring cultural activities, festivals and indemnified exhibitions.
• Client satisfaction with the Public Lending Right Scheme.
• Greater private sector support for the arts, number of organisations participating in Australia Business Arts Foundation (AbaF) training and the number of new sponsorship partnerships created.
• Number and geographic range of tours of performance and cultural exhibitions and festivals assisted.
• Relative increase in the number of applications for places in training organisations funded by the Department and their states of origin.
• Relative increase in the number of graduates of training organisations funded by the Department.

Through the Cultural Development Program, the Department administered funding of more than $38 million in support of a range of cultural activities and programs in the 2001-02 financial year. The distribution of funding under this Program is decided by the Minister on the basis of briefings from the Department. Recipients were advised of their allocations by July 2001.

Several key cultural institutions are funded on an ongoing basis under this Program. These include national cultural training organisations, Australian Children's Television Foundation, Film Australia and the Australia Business Arts Foundation. National touring programs, including Playing Australia, Visions of Australia and Festivals Australia, are also funded through the Cultural Development Program.

All funding is accompanied by a contract or a funding deed, which requires rigorous reporting and accountability requirements to be met before each grant payment is made. In the case of larger institutions, such as Film Australia, regular reporting against Business Plan objectives has to be provided.

Seven national arts training organisations received total Commonwealth funding of $11.25 million this financial year under the Cultural Development Program. These national centres of excellence in performing arts training are the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), National Institute of Circus Arts, Australian Ballet School (ABS), Australian National Academy of Music, the National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Association's (NAISDA) Dance College, the Flying Fruit Fly Circus (FFFC) and the Australian Youth Orchestra.

The Department managed funding agreements with each of these institutions. Under these agreements, the organisations are required to report on a range of measures, for example, performances, audience reach, critical acclaim, and international response, enabling the effectiveness of their operations to be assessed. Highlights from these reports are outlined below:

• NIDA officially opened its Stage II building this financial year. The Building was largely funded by the Commonwealth through the Federation Fund. NIDA's acting course was the focus of a nine-part documentary series, Drama School, screened on commercial television in August 2001;
• the Australian Ballet School toured Regional Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania in July to August 2001 with Swan Lake Act III, Symphony in D and Jabula, and also performed Waiting in the Wings and Point-Centre-Point at the Victoria Arts Centre over the Australian summer season;
• the National Institute of Circus Art opened the Sidney Myer Circus Studio on the Prahan campus of the Swinburne University of Technology in July 2001 and had its first intake of 34 full-time students in February 2001;
• the Flying Fruit Fly Circus toured Hawaii with The Gift and performed the Stepping Stones in Circus Dust Tour for Indigenous communities in Far North Queensland;
• the Australian Youth Orchestra toured Europe in July and August 2001; and
• representatives of the Australian National Academy of Music participated in International Festival Musici Artis in Brussels in April 2001.

As shown in Table 1, there were a total of 91 arts training organisation graduates in 2001. This Table excludes the Australian Youth Orchestra and the Australian National Academy of Music, as they are not degree granting organisations and the National Institute of Circus Arts as its first intake of students will not be graduating until 2003.

Table 1: Graduates of the arts training organisations in 2000 and 2001 (by institution)

	Graduates 2000	Graduates 2001
NIDA	60	54
ABS	26	21
FFFC	12	8
NAISDA	5	8
Total	103	91

In total, the training organisations received 3561 applications for placement, an increase over the previous year of 16 per cent. There were 754 successful applicants, representing an increase of 32 per cent over the previous year.

Table 2: Successful applicants for places in the arts training organisations in 2000 and 2001 (by state)

	2000	2001
NSW	211	209
VIC	127	182
QLD	80	167
SA	33	53
WA	59	66
NT	3	9
TAS	20	22
ACT	37	46
Total	570	754

The Department achieved 100 per cent compliance in providing payments to the organisations within 30 days of receiving the specified reports. All institutions have expressed satisfaction with

the level of assistance provided by the officers of the Department responsible for overseeing delivery of this Commonwealth funding.

Assistance to extend normal touring patterns for exhibitions and performing arts, and support for cultural components within community festivals, continued to provide a diverse range of cultural activities for all Australians, particularly in regional communities.

Specialist advisory committees, appointed by the Minister for the Arts and Sport, assessed touring and festival grant applications against approved guidelines and made recommendations to the Minister on which projects should be approved.

The Playing Australia Program assisted 36 performing arts tours from a total of 84 applications, with grant allocations of $3.8 million in 2001-02. This compared to 43 successful applicants in 2000-01 out of a total of 85 applications. This financial year, 31 productions toured regional areas of the country, comprising 24 touring and seven start-up projects. Commonwealth grants made through the Playing Australia program enabled tours such as the Buzz Dance Theatre's Rumpelstiltskin, receiving $94 202, and the Australian Stringg Quartet, receiving $41 735, to travel extensively in Australia during the year.

Visions of Australia funded 34 exhibitions out of 72 applications through grants totalling $1.75 million, with 140 visits to regional venues in all States and Territories. The exhibitions funded included 24 touring and ten development or start-up projects. While there have been slightly fewer grants awarded this year compared to last year, there have been more visits to regional venues. Examples include the Grafton Regional Gallery's exhibition Imaging identity and place, which explored personal identity and sense of place in the work of nine contemporary artists, and the Queensland Museum's Intimate Aliens.

From 205 applications, Festivals Australia assisted 72 regional and community festivals, compared with 61 grantees from 210 applicants in 2000-01. Festivals Australia received a total of $1 million in Commonwealth funding this financial year. An estimated 86 per cent of Program funds were distributed to regional or remote communities. Support was provided to community festivals such as the Con Amore! Three Chinese Tenors festival in Ingham, the Tennant Creek Town Council's Desert Harmony Festival, which empowered young people through performing arts projects, and the Australian Film Commission's national Big Screen 2002 tour to 18 regional centres across the country.

Through staff participation in a number of industry forums, the Department received positive feedback on its administration of these programs.

Clients also expressed, through the Department's client survey, a high level of satisfaction with the operation and management of the Public Lending Right Scheme.

The AbaF received funding of $1.6 million for four years from 2001-02 to continue its work of increasing private sector support for the arts by developing strategic partnerships between business and arts organisations. Work undertaken by AbaF this financial year compared with results from the previous year is represented in Table 3.

Table 3: Comparison of AbaF work in 2000-01 and 2001-02.

	2000-01	2001-02
Training workshops on Business Arts Partnerships and associated skills development.	190	126
Formal presentations to business by representatives of arts organisations, demonstrating the benefits their organisations can offer a corporate partner.	10	74
Introductions of business to arts representatives and to the benefits an arts partnership can bring.	60	379
Business arts partnerships directly assisted.	25	40

Book Industry Assistance Plan

Performance indicators

• Client satisfaction with the Education Lending Right Scheme.
• Production by the Australian Bureau of Statistics of book publishing and retailing surveys under the Plan's Statistics Program.

The four-year Book Industry Assistance Plan comprises a number of initiatives including the Education Lending Right (ELR) scheme and the Book Industry Statistics initiative. The ELR scheme makes payments to eligible Australian creators and publishers whose books are held in educational lending libraries, complementing the PLR scheme, which covers public lending libraries. Through the Department's client survey, clients expressed a high level of satisfaction with the operation and management of the ELR scheme.

This financial year, about 6900 eligible creators and publishers received funding totalling $8.4 million through ELR, with total funding of $38 million over four years from 1 July 2000-30 June 2004.

Under the Book Industry Statistics initiative, the Department contracted the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to conduct surveys of the book publishing and book retailing industries. The ABS published the 1999-2000 Book Publishers survey in August 2001 after undertaking survey work during 2000-01. Survey work for the 2000-01 Book Publishers and Book Retailers surveys was undertaken during 2001-02, with these surveys scheduled for release in the first half of 2002-03. The surveys will provide an unprecedented statistical time series of these industries. The book retailers survey will be the first produced by the ABS.

Federation Fund grants

Performance indicators

• Compliance of Grant Deeds or Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) under the Federation Fund programs with Commonwealth and State environment, heritage, construction and audit requirements.
• Proportion of Federation Fund Projects completed in accordance with program objectives, and extent of that completion.

The Federation Fund provided $434 million to contribute to the enhancement of Australia's cultural heritage, through a range of large and small infrastructure projects across the country and to help celebrate the Centenary of Federation. The Program was announced in 1998 with projects generally commencing in 1999 and was expected to be completed or substantially completed by the end of 2001, the Centenary year. All grants deeds and MOUs contain clauses requiring compliance with appropriate environment and heritage laws and with the National Code of Practice for the Construction Industry.

The Department monitors program compliance when progress reports are submitted by grantees, and progressive funding payments are made only when compliance is confirmed.

In its Audit Report No 11 2001-02, Administration of the Federation Fund Program, the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) found the Department's program management was generally sound and its grant deeds satisfied ANAO requirements. The ANAO identified initial departmental management of one project-the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture-as inadequate because funds were paid ahead of need and items were allowed to vary from budget projections without adequate explanation.

The Department responded by taking appropriate management action to address the earlier shortcomings. This included negotiating revised expenditure in line with the agreed budget, working with the grantee to ensure financial reporting met program requirements and holding several face-to-face meetings with the grantee to reiterate Commonwealth requirements in terms of progress and reporting. The ANAO acknowledged the Department's measures addressed its concerns.

Of the 17 Major Federation Fund projects which the Department manages, 11 are completed. One outstanding project, consisting of 16 smaller projects, has 15 of the 16 sub-projects completed. Of the 28 Federation Cultural and Heritage Program projects managed by the Department, 24 are completed. Of the 1003 Federation Community Program projects, 858 are completed. In line with Program objectives, which specified projects should be complete or substantially complete by 31 December 2001, the Department has been working with grantees to try to ensure all remaining projects are completed as soon as possible.

A further objective was to increase the awareness of and celebrate the Centenary of Federation. Almost all the large projects and many of the small community projects held events throughout 2001 to celebrate the Centenary. The Department also put considerable effort in publicity and media work including an advertising campaign, a dedicated website, press releases, media kits and magazine articles.

National Recreation Safety

Performance indicators

• Funding allocated in accordance with agreed priorities.
• Compliance with grant conditions.
• Funding fully allocated to stakeholders in a timely manner.

The Department administers $1.956 million per annum of Commonwealth funding to organisations supporting the National Water Safety Plan and Alpine Safety. In accordance with Commonwealth priorities, base funding was allocated to the National Recreation Safety Organisation in August 2001 and Special Project Funding was allocated in October 2001.

Grants were provided to three peak water safety organisations including Surf Life Saving Australia ($1.191 million), Royal Life Saving Australia ($587 000) and AustSwim ($145 000), whose initiatives focus on water safety research, management of aquatic locations, water safety education, and drowning reductions in high-risk groups (children aged 0-5years).

Support was also provided to theses organisations to undertake special projects in line with the National Water Safety Plan, including the Royal Life Saving Society Australia for the Rural and Regional Water Safety Education Program, AustSwim for training courses in remote locations with a particular emphasis on Indigenous communities, and Surf Life Saving Australia to increase patrolling capabilities.

This financial year, the Australian Ski Patrol Association received a funding grant of $33 000 under this Program to meet the Commonwealth's overarching objective of reducing the number of skiing accidents in Australia and enabling all Australians to safely participate in and enjoy alpine activities.

All recipients provided the Department with a copy of the organisation's strategic business plan which identifies links between the organisation's goals and the National Water Safety Plan, or the Commonwealth Government objectives in terms of skiing and alpine recreation safety, as appropriate. The grantees provided regular reports on expenditure of funds that demonstrated compliance with their respective Commonwealth grant agreement. Each year the organisations also provide a Yearly Action Plan which clearly identifies the tasks to be undertaken with grant funds during that year.

Sport and Recreation Program (Anti-doping)

Performance indicators

• Compliance with grant conditions.
• Funding fully allocated to stakeholders in a timely manner.

The Department is administering $7.4 million over four years from 2001-02 to 2004-05 for anti-doping initiatives in sport in Australia. The three key elements of the Sport and Recreation (Anti-doping) Program are improving drug detection research, implementing international best practice in testing, and encouraging international collaboration.

The Department allocated $1.85 million of funding to stakeholders in the second half of this financial year. This timing was understood and agreed by the recipients. The Commonwealth could not determine its allocations until the 2002 Budget for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was endorsed in December 2001. The allocations comprised $700 000 to the Australian Sports Drug Agency for Erythropoetin (EPO) test implementation, $785 000 to the Australian Scientific Drug Testing Laboratory for its research program, and $360 000 contribution to the WADA.

Grant recipients complied with the terms of their Commonwealth agreements and provided regular reports on expenditure of funds

Evaluations

Return of Indigenous Cultural Property Program

A preliminary evaluation undertaken in 2001 found the implementation of this Program had been particularly complex and progress slow due to a range of cultural and logistical issues. As a result of this finding, a recommendation to extend the Program will be made to the 2003 Cultural Ministers Council.

Acton Peninsula Project

The evaluation had three components-a report on the maintenance of the design integrity of the original project, a report on the quality outcomes of the project, and a report on comparative costs of the Acton project and some other Australian cultural construction projects. The findings include that:

• the design integrity of the project had been maintained;
• the overall quality of the project was outstanding; and
• while there were considerable on costs (i.e. costs not directly attributable to the actual construction) associated with the setting up and running of the project, these could be attributed to the Commonwealth using alliancing as a project delivery method for the first time.

Key recommendations from the evaluation include:

• if the Commonwealth uses alliancing as a project delivery method for construction projects in the future, it should look to improve value for money in the relevant areas while at the same time maintaining the benefits flowing to the Acton arrangement.

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¹ The Australian Film Commission information is based on a calendar year and details for the first half of 2002 will be available in October 2002.

² ibid