Kevin Rudd's razor gang has slashed the budgets of Canberra's beloved cultural institutions, with the National Library facing cuts of $1.186million for the next financial year.
The pain extends to the National Museum having to cut $823,000 from its budget in 2008-09, and the National Gallery $853,000.
The additional 2 per cent efficiency dividend will lead to total cuts to institutions within the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts of $5.851million in 2008-09 and $5.901million in 2009-10, up from $1.42million this year.
The figures were obtained from the Portfolio Additional Estimates Statements 2007-08, and presented in Senate estimates hearings for the department.
A spokesperson for the museum said it would be hard hit by extra cuts.
"At the moment, we are looking at our budget. Some areas of the museum will be affected.
"For example, we may not fill positions when they become vacant. It will affect our travelling exhibitions, too," the spokesperson said.
"It is important for these exhibitions to tour the country and for all Australians to see their national treasures."
It is understood the budget cuts will not stop the forthcoming "100 years of Rugby League in Australia" exhibition, due to open on March 8 in Canberra, from touring the country, but future tours are now in jeopardy.
The museum has seven exhibitions in or due to start in other galleries and museums in Australia and overseas.
Sources at the library and the gallery also confirmed that public programs would likely be first on the chopping block as the institutions look to make cuts and meet their budgets.
The source at the gallery said, "it will be difficult to find but it will be found. We have to do it".
But the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett, said his department had to bear the pain of the additional efficiency dividend, just as every other department except for the Department of Defence.
"The national collecting institutions already do an excellent job ... they have the capacity to adjust to circumstances that present themselves when we do need to have some emphasis on fiscal prudence," he said.
"There is no distinction under this government between where the efficiency dividend falls as to where it fell under the previous government, so it works in the same way. I have every confidence that the institutions will be able to manage the impact of the dividend well.
"The national collecting institutions are a culture store for Australians, and for that reason alone they both deserve the support they do receive and are a priority for me, as Arts Minister, in terms of development of policy.
"Every department and every institution that is subject to the efficiency dividend must manage it within their own program delivery as well as they can," he said.
The National Museum of Australia, forced to save $188,000, or 1.25per cent in 2007-08, will slash $823,000 from its budget in 2008-09, and $829,000 from its budget in 2009-10.
The National Gallery of Australia is facing cuts of $853,000 in 2008-09, and $881,000 in 2009-10, up from $196,000 in the current financial year.
And the National Library of Australia is hardest hit, with $1.186million in savings to be made in 2008-09, and $1.192million in 2009-10, up from $269,000 this year.
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