There is a discursive split in Australian arts policy between subvention of the arts justified in terms of ‘humanistic’ objectives and subvention of the arts justified in terms of ‘economic’ objectives. It is possible to locate the emergence of this particular split to the 1976 Industries Assistance Commission Report, Assistance to the Performing Arts. Over the last two decades, these policy objectives have been constructed as in competition. This paper traces the history of the construction of the ‘arts as industry’ in Australian arts policy. In conclusion, it queries the more recent terms in which ‘arts as industry’ policy objectives have been set as in opposition to ‘public provision’ models of arts subvention.