Federal Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Richard Alston, and the Federal Minister for the Arts and Sport, Senator Rod Kemp, announced today that they would recommend to the Governor-General that businessman and corporate adviser, David Gonski, be appointed to chair the Australia Council, following the sudden resignation of Dr Terry Cutler late last week.

Currently President of the Board of Trustees for the Art Gallery of NSW and Chairman of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), Gonski is also Chairman of Investec Australia and Coca Cola Amatil. He was a member of the Nugent Review Committee into the nation's major performing arts organisations, was previously Chairman of the Bundanon Trust and Film Australia, and, in 1996, conducted a review of Commonwealth assistance to the Australian Film Industry (known as the ‘Gonski Report’).

‘Having been involved in a number of arts disciplines, Mr Gonski’s passion for the arts combined with his business skills make him ideally placed to take over the leadership of the Commonwealth’s principal arts funding body,’ Senator Kemp commented.

Gonski himself said that he is ‘looking forward enormously to the challenges and rewards of the role,’ while Australia Council CEO, Jenny Bott, affirmed that the businessman's extensive background in the corporate sector, with government reviews, and experience with both the visual and performing arts sectors would bring strength and depth to the organisation's forward agenda.