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Program: Budget: is the writing on the wall for the Australia Council?

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Treasurer Joe Hockey delivered his Federal Budget last night.

The government has announced it will establish a National Programme for Excellence in the Arts, to be administered by Senator Brandis' Arts Ministry.

It is to be funded by stripping $104.7 million from the Australia Council, which operates at arm's length from the government.

Matthew Knott, Federal Political Reporter with the Sydney Morning Herald, and Peter Tregear, from the Australian National University, join us make sense of the decision.

Budget