Libs trash culture policy, although sight unseen Regional Development Minister Simon Crean will reveal Labor's cultural policy on March 13. THE federal opposition has poured cold water over Labor's national cultural policy ahead of its long-awaited release in Canberra this month, threatening to scrap the entire document if Tony Abbott wins government. More than 18 months after launching a draft discussion paper, Arts Minister Simon Crean will use an appearance at the National Press Club on March 13 to reveal the government's cultural policy, a sweeping statement designed to set the creative agenda for the next decade. The policy had been expected last year, so the announcement of a release date ends a frustrating wait for the arts sector. Crean, who has been pushing for new funding to be attached to the policy, said recently he wanted to see a "cohesion of commitment" from governments, business and private donors. He also singled out Wayne Swan as an obstacle to its release, pointing out that his father, Frank Crean, had been prepared to fund the Australia Council as treasurer in the Whitlam government. But the opposition has now confirmed, before seeing the final policy, that it is unlikely to receive bipartisan support. Coalition arts spokesman George Brandis told The Australian yesterday an Abbott-led government would find different ways "to restore the arts to a more central priority." "The opposition will feel bound by nothing in the national cultural policy if we are elected to government later this year," he said, adding that he had "his own ideas" but would wait until the release of the policy before revealing alternatives. The arts community should be insulted that the government has been so indifferent to its interests, that it has waited for the shadow of an election campaign at the end of its second parliamentary term (to release it). The policy release follows a review into the Australia Council last year that urged its overhaul to fit the modern world. Crean has not yet responded to the report's recommendations, which are likely to form part of the cultural policy alongside reviews into philanthropy, sponsorship and media convergence. Last month, he revealed details of a new philanthropy and social-investment agency, Creative Partnerships Australia, the product of a merger of the Australia Business Arts Foundation and Artsupport Australia. It will be led by former Howard government adviser Fiona Menzies. The policy was framed with the help of a 20-member reference group chaired by Julianne Schultz, the editor of Griffith Review, and including publisher Louise Adler, economist David Throsby, choreographer Stephen Page and National Portrait Gallery chairwoman Helen Nugent.