Ms MARTIN - 2000-10-19
Three years ago the regional museum grant support program was established to support regional museums of which there are 43 across the Territory, but this program was not open for all museums. Museums were contacted individually to apply and in the first year eight were funded and in the second only six.
Can the minister tell this House why the grants program was not advertised so that all museums could apply and have an equal opportunity to seek funding?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I thank the honourable Leader of the Opposition for a chance to clarify a question she asked during the appropriation debate and received an answer at the time but has since attempted to muddy the waters.
Yes, several years ago a regional arts museum fund was established by Cabinet, by this government. We took the decision to have this particular fund and it is a very successful fund indeed. Part of its philosophy is…
Ms Martin: Where is the ad for it?
Mr ADAMSON: Do you want to hear the answer or not? You do not want to hear the answer, do you? At least you have remembered to ask a question this time. You have forgotten to vote twice in the sittings, but I will give you the answer.
The answer is quite simple. We set up this particular fund to support the regional museums throughout the Northern Territory and the six museums that the Leader of the Opposition claims to purport to represent, she is misleading. There are no doubt that a series of museums do receive a large proportion of the money and that is done for a very specific reason. They are the major museums where we have chosen to support a component of the employment expenses of that particular museum and they are the major museums that are privately run and largely quite privately operated, but contribute significantly to the Northern Territory economy both in terms of the interest from Territorians and also visitors.
Now we do not walk away from that and if anyone thinks that we should not be funding the Aviation Museum and the Aviation Museum in Alice Springs, the Ghan, the Road Transport Hall of Fame – if the Leader of the Opposition thinks we should not be funding those museums, tell me which ones we shouldn’t be. The Leader of the Opposition is being deliberately misleading. She may not be lying but it is definitely a bald faced misrepresentation of the facts.
Ms MARTIN: Point of order! This minister should be dealing properly with the question. Because they are the words he gave us for his rationale for this program. It is only funds as allocated by him and not …
Mr SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order, but I ask the minister to get on with the answer as quickly as you can.
Mr ADAMSON: Thank you, Mr Speaker. In terms of the other museums, there is some implication that we do not advertise. What we have is regular dialogue with these organisations; we have approaches from these organisations on an annual basis. So to say that we do not advertise the thing is quite misleading.
We also have dedicated officers within the department who talk to these museums. Quite frankly, we have better ways of contacting and establishing dialogue with these museums than putting an ad in the paper. Now ads in the paper are probably very good for the opposition because as we have heard today there have been so many quotes from newspapers – the opposition has obviously resubscribed to the NT News because most of their research this morning has come out of the newspaper. But in this particular case we do not put an ad in the paper but we do contact the museums. The fact is that the large proportion of money goes to those bigger museums and those museums that have an employment component.
I do not make any apologies for that. I do not think anyone on this side makes apologies for that, but it is another case of the Leader of the Opposition talking down museums in the Northern Territory. And more importantly talking down the work of the officers within the department who do deal with these museums on a regular basis. That is happening. It is acknowledged by this side of the House, it is obviously not acknowledged by the other side of the House. No impropriety. All above board. We stand by our record.
Can the minister tell this House why the grants program was not advertised so that all museums could apply and have an equal opportunity to seek funding?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I thank the honourable Leader of the Opposition for a chance to clarify a question she asked during the appropriation debate and received an answer at the time but has since attempted to muddy the waters.
Yes, several years ago a regional arts museum fund was established by Cabinet, by this government. We took the decision to have this particular fund and it is a very successful fund indeed. Part of its philosophy is…
Ms Martin: Where is the ad for it?
Mr ADAMSON: Do you want to hear the answer or not? You do not want to hear the answer, do you? At least you have remembered to ask a question this time. You have forgotten to vote twice in the sittings, but I will give you the answer.
The answer is quite simple. We set up this particular fund to support the regional museums throughout the Northern Territory and the six museums that the Leader of the Opposition claims to purport to represent, she is misleading. There are no doubt that a series of museums do receive a large proportion of the money and that is done for a very specific reason. They are the major museums where we have chosen to support a component of the employment expenses of that particular museum and they are the major museums that are privately run and largely quite privately operated, but contribute significantly to the Northern Territory economy both in terms of the interest from Territorians and also visitors.
Now we do not walk away from that and if anyone thinks that we should not be funding the Aviation Museum and the Aviation Museum in Alice Springs, the Ghan, the Road Transport Hall of Fame – if the Leader of the Opposition thinks we should not be funding those museums, tell me which ones we shouldn’t be. The Leader of the Opposition is being deliberately misleading. She may not be lying but it is definitely a bald faced misrepresentation of the facts.
Ms MARTIN: Point of order! This minister should be dealing properly with the question. Because they are the words he gave us for his rationale for this program. It is only funds as allocated by him and not …
Mr SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order, but I ask the minister to get on with the answer as quickly as you can.
Mr ADAMSON: Thank you, Mr Speaker. In terms of the other museums, there is some implication that we do not advertise. What we have is regular dialogue with these organisations; we have approaches from these organisations on an annual basis. So to say that we do not advertise the thing is quite misleading.
We also have dedicated officers within the department who talk to these museums. Quite frankly, we have better ways of contacting and establishing dialogue with these museums than putting an ad in the paper. Now ads in the paper are probably very good for the opposition because as we have heard today there have been so many quotes from newspapers – the opposition has obviously resubscribed to the NT News because most of their research this morning has come out of the newspaper. But in this particular case we do not put an ad in the paper but we do contact the museums. The fact is that the large proportion of money goes to those bigger museums and those museums that have an employment component.
I do not make any apologies for that. I do not think anyone on this side makes apologies for that, but it is another case of the Leader of the Opposition talking down museums in the Northern Territory. And more importantly talking down the work of the officers within the department who do deal with these museums on a regular basis. That is happening. It is acknowledged by this side of the House, it is obviously not acknowledged by the other side of the House. No impropriety. All above board. We stand by our record.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016