An axed duo have been reinstated as Australia's picks for a major international exhibition after a review found the nation's arts body should have been better prepared for an inevitably controversial decision.
In a statement on Wednesday, artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino said they had accepted an invitation to once again represent the nation at the 2026 Venice Biennale after being uninvited in February.
"This decision has renewed our confidence in Creative Australia and in the integrity of its selection process," they said.
"It offers a sense of resolution and allows us to move forward with optimism and hope after a period of significant personal and collective hardship."
The pair's invitation was rescinded when some of Sabsabi's early work, which referenced terrorism, was raised in federal parliament.
National arts funding and advisory body Creative Australia cancelled their invitation on the grounds their selection would cause prolonged and divisive debate, and that it posed an unacceptable risk to public support for Australia's artistic community.
More than 4000 people, including some of Australia's most respected artists, called for the pair to be reinstated.
They again accepted the invitation to represent the nation following an external review of Creative Australia's decision-making.
Missteps, assumptions and missed opportunities - although no single predominant failure - were identified in the review.
"It was a complex series of events that created a unique set of circumstances which the board had to address," Creative Australia acting chair Wesley Enoch said in a statement.
The review noted a "broader, fraught environment" surrounding the decision-making meant the agency was not as well-prepared as it needed to be.
A series of recommendations for better risk-identification procedures and crisis management were included, but the review noted the agency faced a considerable task to rebuild trust.
"If there is a dominant theme in the findings of this report, it is that much pain, anger, damage and anxiety could have been avoided if Creative Australia had been appropriately prepared for what, inevitably, was going to be a controversial decision," the report said.
Arts Minister Tony Burke said he still had confidence in the Creative Australia board and politicians should not be in charge of its decisions.
"These are arms-length decisions," he told ABC TV.
"When they made the decision to appoint, I said I supported it, when they made the decision to terminate, I said I'd support that."
But Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the agency's leadership needed a "clean out".
"This is the right end to a very sorry saga but it's a terrible day for the board and CEO of Creative Australia who have disgraced themselves throughout this ordeal," she said.
Coalition arts spokesman Julian Leeser criticised the duo's reinstatement.
"This has been a deeply flawed process from the beginning and has now led to a ridiculous outcome," he said.
"It diminishes the power of Australian art as a tool of soft diplomacy."
