Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

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OzCo draws on cash reserve to fund small-to-medium sector

The Australia Council will allocate $10m over two years from its reserves to provide grants to the small-to-medium sector.

An Australia Council spokesperson told ArtsHub its board made the decision to draw on its reserves given that ‘reduced funding levels for the small to medium sector would impact the effective delivery of our programs, in particular the Four-Year Funding program’. As previously reported by Books+Publishing, the federal government cut $110m in funding from the Australia Council in the 2015-16 budget.

The government’s additional estimates statement, published on 9 February, shows the Australia Council has allocated $5m of its reserves per year in 2016-17 and 2017-18. The statement also shows that the Australia Council is subject to a 2.5% ‘efficiency dividend’, which equates to $9m over four years.

 

Category: Local news