Albanese government announces $33m lifeline for National Library's beloved Trove digital platform

In one of Labor's first major pre-budget announcements - and the first of several flagged for the national collecting institutions - the Arts Minister Tony Burke and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher ended the uncertainty for Trove which was slated to close when its funding expired on June 30.

The National Library's Director-General Dr Marie-Louise Ayres is delighted with the announcement which also includes longer term funding beyond the forward estimates. An extra $9.2 million is being provided in indexed ongoing annual funding from 2027-28. Meantime, despite long term criticism, the efficiency dividend, the 1.25 per cent annual levy introduced in 1987 by the Hawke government, remains in place.

The ministers described Trove as an "essential government service" and have declared its funding uncertainty has been ended "once and for all".

"We know just how important Trove is to so many Australians and the Albanese government is pleased to be able to provide our National Library the funding needed to finally take Trove off of life support," Senator Gallagher said in a statement

"Without this funding Trove would simply cease to exist in a few short months - and with that, free, digital access to much of Australia's history would be denied to millions of Australians."

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Since Labor's revamped cultural policy, Revive, was launched in January, Mr Burke has foreshadowed that mainly Canberra-based institutions - such as the National Archives and the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) - will receive increased funding in the May budget.

The Prime Minister has also described the institutions as "starved of funds". The National Gallery has been considering closing two days a week and charging entrance fees. Staff, which are also facing large scale redundancies, are deploying using towels and buckets to mitigate a "national disgrace".

There is also ongoing concern for the operations of the National Archives and its priceless historical treasures.

But there has been particular political and community pressure to support Trove which is one of the world's largest digitised collections of historical primary source material. With over 14 billion digitised artefacts and stories, including 26 million newspaper pages, it is regarded as an easily accessible, essential resource for researchers, historians, students and people digging into family histories. It receives millions of page visits every year.

The previous Coalition government had not renewed federal Trove funding and it was due to expire on June 30, but the institution had previously ruled out a pay-for-view scheme for Trove as a way to keep it going.

"It takes us a step closer to ending the budget cuts and culture wars of the previous government," Mr Burke said.

"Trove is, in many ways, Australia's digital memory. It records and retains some of our most important stories, moments, challenges, controversies and successes in one accessible location.

"Whether you're using it to look up a bit of family history, or for academic research - Trove is an incredibly important part of our national cultural institutions."

The National Library of Australia's Director-General has welcomed the announcement.

"I've spent much of my NLA career working on Trove and predecessor services and am absolutely thrilled that its future is now secured," Dr Ayres said in a statement. "Trove exemplifies the very best things about Australia - innovation, collaboration, community engagement, a curious spirit, and the belief that our history and heritage should be available to all.

"I am so delighted that the Albanese government has provided ongoing funding so that Trove can continue to be at the centre of Australia's cultural life.

"Along with my colleagues in the other cultural institutions, I look forward to further announcements relating to core funding, including for our capital works program and storage requirements."

The Arts Minister had held a series of pre-budget, one-on-one meetings earlier this year with the leadership of most of the national collecting institutions to understand "how bad" their funding had become.

Trove's unique collection includes Austlang, the vocabulary of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages maintained by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.

It also contains digital copies of Banjo Paterson's original manuscript of Waltzing Matilda.