Established by the Cultural Ministers Council in 2004, CCA has worked to bring together the collections sector which includes archives, galleries, libraries and museums. Last month it released plans to develop and promote a new model for sustainable scientific and cultural collections in Australia.

CCA’s Chair Noel Turnbull said that abolishing the CCA would not help solve significant fundamental problems facing the collections sector.

Turnbull believes it is a short-sighted decision by Australia’s Arts Ministers.

“Co-ordinated strategic planning, as advocated by the Collections Council, could have added value to governments’ investment in larger institutions, while providing a much needed hand to the thousands of local and regional collections which need more support,” Turnbull said.

“Collections will continue to be under-utilised at a cost to productivity, innovation and a sense of national identity.”

“The failure of some large institutions to understand the value of a strategic peak body has probably provided a justification for ending the Collections Council’s funding. Our proposed new model for the sector, which we will now be unable to develop, was expressly designed to overcome this divide,” Turnbull said.

The Collections Council has been invited to participate in discussions with the Standing Committee of Cultural Ministers Council regarding the decision.