Senator Mitch Fifield says the arts are the “soul of the nation” but doesn’t think slashed Federal subsidies should be criticised.

Responding to a question following a speech at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday, Minister for the Arts Senator Mitch Fifield said, “I don’t think an Arts Minister or a government should be judged just on the quantum of money that government puts in.” Considering the enduring repercussions of his predecessor’s funding reforms and the recent cuts to arts funding following the Summer’s MYEFO announcement, his sentiments have riled many in the arts community.

Senator Fifield took over the Arts portfolio following Malcolm Turnbull’s ascension to the Prime Ministership in 2015. The previous Arts Minister, Senator George Brandis, had drawn the ire of the arts community when he cut $100 million from the Australia Council for the Arts to create his own, now defunct, National Programme for Excellence in the Arts (NPEA) in the May budget that year.

The changes were condemned, having been made with no warning and no consultation with the arts sector. The NPEA drew criticism for its lack of transparency and the dearth of grants for individual artists. It was slammed by...