The theme of this number is Australian cultural policy; it highlights some relevant and current issues which have implications beyond Australia. The guest editor made a point to select articles with a provocative approach which provide a different or alternative interpretation to the subject matter in question.

For example, Stevenson critically analyses the cultural planning documents of Australian local governments and stresses the missing realistic definitional and strategic limits. Tracing the impact of government policies and bureaucracy in Australia on the arts over the past thirty years, Bereson identifies a continuous commodification of the arts. Finally, Given looks at the implications of Australia's signing of a bilateral free-trade agreement with the United States in 2004, in particular regarding the country's economic and cultural relationship to New Zealand.