Moral Lip Service: Government's Hard Hit at the Art Market is a Soft Form of Redress

Aboriginal Art Directory | 23.04.10

Author: Jane Raffan

Since the 1970s, a significant rise in Indigenous rights debates and protocols on the world stage has occurred in tandem with dramatic growth in the appreciation of Aboriginal art. Over the same period the federal government has introduced legislation and regulatory schemes to protect cultural heritage and further the cause of Indigenous rights, which culminates in three policy regimes that directly impact the art market. At present, the Resale Royalty Right for Visual Artists Bill 2008 (Cth) has been passed by the Senate, the Protection of Moveable Cultural Heritage Act 1986 (Cth) is under reform, and the Government has driven the adoption of a national Indigenous Australian Art Commercial Code of Conduct.

This political framework effectively represents a Government agenda to co-opt the art market in redressing wrongs to the Indigenous peoples of Australia. As strategy, this has enabled the Commonwealth to adopt a moral stance towards its recognition of Indigenous rights, while avoiding meaningful participation in sovereignty debates and legal reform; in addition to deflecting and ameliorating criticism of their fractured and ineffective approaches to addressing Indigenous social injustice in other portfolios.

Full article available at: http://www.artifacts.net.au/publication_pdfs/sam-march-2010.pdf

URL: http://www.artifacts.net.au

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