Gillard’s gift to President Obama of an iPod loaded with Australian music is marred by the conspicuous absence of our classical composers.

Jimmy Barnes, Kylie Minogue, Paul Kelly and Yothu Yindi rub shoulders on the iPod Julia Gillard presented to Barack Obama this week, on her first official tour of the United States as Prime Minister.  The selection of tunes has been widely praised for showcasing the diversity of Australia’s local talent, including Labour’s own Peter Garrett (four Midnight Oil hits) and indigenous artists Geoffrey Gurramul Yunupingu and Archie Roach. Some have criticised the compilation’s absence of AC/DC, but far more disturbing is one major oversight: where’s the classical music?

The Government has exposed its cultural priorities and a worrying lack of interest in Australian art music in its decision to snub the nation’s internationally acclaimed composers. Where, for example, was Bliss, Brett Dean’s recent operatic sensation based on the quintessentially Aussie Peter Carey novel?

Surely Peter Sculthorpe should have made the cut; the elder statesman of Australian classical music was one of the first to...