Coalition slams new-look Australia Council THE federal opposition has slammed the new-look Australia Council, saying it is skewed in favour of the biggest cities, and short-changes the visual arts and literature. The restructured arts-funding agency came into force yesterday, with nine new board members appointed by Arts Minister Tony Burke. But the opposition arts spokesman George Brandis says there was insufficient consultation before the appointments, which was "deeply disrespectful to thousands of Australian artists and millions of arts lovers." "Two-thirds of the members of the board come from either Melbourne or Sydney," Senator Brandis says. The growth states of Queensland and Western Australia, which are both the home of vibrant and rapidly expanding arts communities, are limited to a single board member each. Regional Australia is barely represented. Senator Brandis says the federal government appointed filmmaker Khoa Do and broadcaster Waleed Aly but failed to appoint anyone with serious literary credentials. Australia Council chairman Rupert Myer conducted a landmark review of the visual arts sector for the Howard government in 2002, but Senator Brandis says visual arts have not been given sufficient representation on the board. "The board seems to have been tailor-made to cater to the tastes and prejudices of a narrow group of people from the two largest capital cities, rather than representing the breadth and variety of Australia's art forms, arts practitioners and audiences," he says.