In Dunstan’s Adelaide, the city’s elites are pushing writers out of the Australian story Adelaide Writers’ Week cancellation proves writers are being pushed out of Australian storytelling

The Adelaide Festival board of directors resigned yesterday over the cancellation of this year’s Adelaide Writers’ Week, leaving a smoky ruin in their wake. In less than a week, they have managed to break down the long-standing separation of church and state between creative decision-making, management and sponsorship (without political interference) in the city where the Dunstan Labor Government first fostered cultural innovation without interference half a century ago.

It’s a history that makes it all the more shocking to see the board override the city’s highly respected Writers’ Week director Louise Adler (who has since resigned) on programming preferences, and to see that decision supported by Don Dunstan’s heir, wunderkind Premier Peter Malinauskas.