The Albanese Government has thrown a funding lifeline to nine major cultural and historical institutions, allocating an additional $535 million over the next four years to arrest the decline in infrastructure and service provision. However, the efficiency dividend is to remain.

The Australian National Maritime Museum, Bundanon Trust and the majority of Canberra-based institutions will all benefit from this funding package, which includes a previously announced $33 million earmarked for the National Library’s digital archive Trove.

Arts Minister Tony Burke criticised the former government for allowing major cultural institutions to fall into “a shocking state of disrepair”, adding that the extra funding would help them “back to where they should be – where the government delivers strong core funding and philanthropists take them to the next level”.

Meanwhile, in the UK, the BBC has announced that it will “suspend” its decision to axe the BBC Singers. The reversal comes in the wake of a fortnight of negative commentary that included a letter to the BBC Director General Tim Davie signed by more than 800 composers and an online petition that attracted more than 150,000 signatures.

While the medium-term future of the BBC...