Even in a cost-of-living crisis people visit museums and galleries in droves

The closeness of these events offers a chance to think about how Australian values are commemorated on ANZAC Day and how consciously voters might reflect on culture when they get into ballot boxes come election day on May 3.

Most people agree that the political values of freedom and self-determination that are celebrated by ANZAC Day are key elements of our democratic parliamentary system.

But fewer might recognise that these values are cultural as much as they are political and economic.

It is an important distinction because speaking out for these entitlements of citizenship does not make someone "woke" on "un-Australian"- it makes them capable of critical thought and independent decision-making.

It can also be easy to forget that culture, even when it is generally accepted as a common good, is not cost-neutral. For example, ANZAC Day will be spent by many reflecting on our national past at the stunning newly renovated wing of the Australian War Memorial.

This experience will be free to visitors, despite coming in at a cost of $550 million to taxpayers.

In contrast, many of us happily paid to visit the hugely popular Pompeii exhibition at the National Museum of Australia, which will close the same weekend the election is held.

We also paid to see the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, which closed this weekend and has been recorded as the best-attended ticketed art exhibition in Australian history.

What this tells us is that even in a cost-of-living crisis people visit museums and galleries.

We visit collections and exhibitions because they show us worlds and worldviews that we may not otherwise learn about. This is especially true when international travel is increasingly out of reach.

But given Australians' appetite for culture and the arts - and the value of culture to the economy at a time when international travel is increasingly expensive - where is it in this election campaign?

The last we heard from Tony Burke, Minister for the Arts, appeared to be in relation to fallout from Creative Australia's decision to withdraw the invitation to Khaled Sabsabi to represent Australia at next year's Venice Biennale.

This controversy followed debate over censorship at the National Gallery of Australia earlier this year when Palestinian protest material was censored by the National Gallery of Australia.

These events followed last year's brouhaha over lobbying of the NGA to remove portraits of Gina Rinehart.

Where is the minister in defending the right to freedom of speech of artists in this country?

Where is he in defending the right of ordinary Australians to engage with works they are entitled to make their own decisions about?

Burke made a big deal of his role in shepherding the Albanese government's cultural policy reforms of 2023. I supported these, especially as they translated into direct budgetary relief for some of our most-stretched national institutions like the National Archives.

But what has been the benefits of this policy since then? What have been the concrete wins for cultural institutions and practitioners outside of our urban centres? Are our artists and cultural producers any better off?

Where is culture on this year's campaign trail?

The most we have seen of culture in the campaign has been in the policies of Liberal National Coalition politicians and in the advertising by Trumpet of Patriots Party headed up by Clive Palmer.

Both have drawn liberally on the culture wars stream of Trumpism that presents culture as a threat to national unity and progress, an obstacle to making Australia great again.

As it has been on cultural policy, the Labor Party has been all but silent on multicultural policy.

Incidentally, multiculturalism, which covers areas of social cohesion, inclusion and social justice, also resides in the Home Affairs portfolio, also led by Mr Burke.

However, the context of heightened community tensions associated with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and increases in anti-Semitic and Islamophobic hate crimes does not provide a reason for culture to be silenced or whitewashed.

It is more grist to the mill of discussion. It is the stuff of controversies in our museums and galleries, sure, but it is also part of the everyday lives of all Australians.

Culture is not just what we make if we are artists, or what we visit on weekends as audiences. It is who we are the values we live our lives by. It should, as such, be properly engaged with by our nation's political leaders.