Things were bad in literature. After years of neglect the situation was growing dire; author incomes were dismal, literature was being left with the dregs as Australia Council funding dried up—and Richard Flanagan wanted to secede.

The legacy of the Abbott government and the cuts pushed through by former arts minister and Attorney-General George Brandis was a sector rattled by chaos and austerity, with little prospects for improvement. When funding was directed to the arts—like the Morrison government’s COVID response RISE program—it failed to trickle down to literature.