Page 4244 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 21 September 2011
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It is not often that leaders are in a position to make a decision that would mark an inflection point in the development of a city’s cultural life. We believe this is one such decision.
Can’t you just imagine the former Chief Minister and Minister for the Arts getting all warm and saying: “I can’t possibly let this opportunity pass”? Mr Speaker, I seek leave to table the letter annotated by the former Chief Minister from Megalo about the Fitters Workshop.
Leave granted.
MRS DUNNE: I thank members for leave. I table the following paper:
Megalo Print Studio and Gallery—Request for relocation to the Fitters Workshop—Copy of letter from Alison Alder, Artistic Director/CEO, Megalo Print Studio and Gallery, to Mr Jon Stanhope, Chief Minister and Minister for the Arts, dated 22 August 2008.
It seems that the letter and the annotation show that Mr Stanhope made this decision on the spot. He made this decision in an impetuous way, and in doing so he has made a decision which in hindsight could have a detrimental effect on what has come to be known as an extraordinary acoustic facility. The extraordinary acoustic qualities of the Fitters Workshop became evident after it was made, and Ms Le Couteur has touched on this. You cannot blame people for making a decision the way they did at the time. But you can blame them when new information comes along and they steadfastly refuse to look at it. This is an act of ignorance. It is an act of wilfulness that this minister and this government will not go back and look at the decision.
At 6 pm, in accordance with standing order 34, the debate was interrupted. The motion for the adjournment of the Assembly having been put and negatived, the debate was resumed.
MRS DUNNE: Such a stance in relation to the Fitters Workshop is a missed opportunity. The Conroy report on the Kingston arts precinct recommends that the Fitters Workshop be retained as a multi-use facility. What a great facility it could be, bringing the visual and the performing arts together. The synergies could be thus created not only for the Fitters Workshop but also the Kingston Foreshore arts precinct, and Canberra as a whole could be extraordinary.
But instead, if this minister has her way, we are going to end up with a building inside a building, destroying its internal architectural, visual and acoustic qualities and creating only a very small exhibition space into the bargain. We also have to note, Mr Speaker, that the Fitters Workshop is not big enough for Megalo and the government is proposing to spend a large amount of money to build another industrial-looking building behind the Fitters Workshop. The question has been raised time and again: if we are going to spend that much money there, could we not build a bigger building in the precinct for Megalo, leaving the Fitters Workshop as a multi-use facility as was recommended by the government’s own consultant?
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