I have emerged (finally) from government documents.
Australia is an interesting place and how Australia handles being in interesting places is through calling for submissions from the public. I’ve written two on matters of antisemitism and hate (one of which being 22 pages long and still too short, and containing far too many typos because I had to do it in a time of physical pain) and one on cultural policy. My cultural policy one was for the government consideration of what Australia’s cultural policy should look like in the future. Last time I wrote on this, I pointed out how impossible our policies are towards writers. They’re still not generous. There is an opera company that gets as much money from the Federal government in a year as all writers and writing organisations and festivals. Or there used to be. I haven’t looked it up this year because, while it’s still a major concern, a bigger one is the direction our Arts are heading. Erasure, hate, purity tests… federal spending that supports hate is unwise. I wrote 1300 words explaining this (a short submission!) and using examples from close to home.
What have I emerged to? I’m so glad you asked.
I’m at Balticon online. And then at Swancon in person. When I return from both… I will have news.