'Real certainty,' Albanese pulls the national collecting institutions off the funding cliff

A month out from the federal budget, the Albanese government has delighted all nine national institutions - including the National Library of Australia and the National Gallery of Australia which both had been deploying buckets to deal with leaks - in announcing they will collectively get an extra $535 million over the next four years.

The announcement also includes guaranteed indexed ongoing annual funding from 2027-28. In the breakdown, there is money for staff and operations, essential maintenance, as well as a new twice yearly formal process between the institutions and Arts Minister Tony Burke to work out future funding on an as-needs basis.

The Prime Minister said the previous Coalition government had left the institutions struggling on a funding cliff, with their money previously not renewed beyond June 30.

"If you look at what last year's March budget did ... buckets of money, but there were buckets of water in this building at the same time," Mr Albanese told reporters in Canberra.

"In the case of the national institutions, there wasn't funding in order to fix what needed to be fixed.

"Now going forward my government is providing some real certainty with today's announcement. Obviously there will be future advocacy for full funding that will be dealt with on its merit."

Apart from the NGA and the National Library, the funding is directed at the Australian National Maritime Museum, Bundanon Trust, Museum of Australian Democracy (Old Parliament House), National Archives of Australia, National Film and Sound Archive, and the National Portrait Gallery of Australia.

The institutions were considering having to rely on philanthropy to survive. The Prime Minister said he would continue to encourage philanthropy and investment.

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The Arts Minister said the institutions have been underfunded for a long time, but now they can be ambitious.

"Our cultural policy was called Revive. Today we're taking the defibrillator to the cultural institutions," Mr Burke said.

"The people on the boards now will be able to go to philanthropists for 'What's the next big idea?', not 'Can we do the major repairs?' not "Can philanthropists come in and fund the essential stuff?'

"It's now, the government funding is there to embed these organisations permanently into the Australian budget so that they're forever within the Australian psyche."

Mr Burke said he will have a clear "line of sight" over future capital works at the institutions.

"There is a formal process that will now kick in, twice yearly," he said. "There'll be a statement of expectations that goes from me to the institutions."

"The institutions that will then report back on their plans and what their needs are twice a year to me. And those reports will go directly to the expenditure review committee."

The institutions are delighted with the announcement, saying it gives much needed short term and ongoing funding.

For national gallery director Nick Mitzevich, that's confidence and stability.

"We can go from triage to building and being ambitious. Our operations are going to be sustained, and we can direct private giving to ambition, rather than patching shortcomings," he told The Canberra Times.

"We can employ staff and we can deliver things for people in Canberra and across the country.

"And for our building, it means that we've got a pipeline and a trajectory. So we've got initially $42 million to start work on critical works. And the minister today outlined a process and a pipeline so we can bring all of the other major issues to bring this building back from the brink and make it fit for purpose over the next 10 years."

The funding for the nine institutions comes days after the Labor government gave a $33 million lifeline over the next four years to the National Library of Australia's beloved free digital platform Trove.

The vital resource for researchers, historians, students and people digging into family histories was slated to close when the funding, not renewed by the previous Coalition government, ran out.

The Canberra Times has approached Opposition arts spokesman Paul Fletcher for comment.