❓ Question regarding the WA government's commitment to funding the new WA Museum project in the Perth Cultural Centre, following concerns raised by the opposition about potential deferral.
AnsweredQoN 254Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
MUSEUM —
PERTH CULTURAL CENTRE
254. Mr M.W. SUTHERLAND to the Minister for Planning:
I was pleased to hear the announcement in the Treasurer's
budget speech of funding for the new museum. Today the Leader of the Opposition
said that if the Labor Party was in government in 2013, it would defer this
project. Can the minister provide the house with more information about this
important project and what it means for Western Australia?
Point of Order
Mrs
M.H. ROBERTS : I am inquiring whether the Premier has forwarded to
you the piece of paper that you required of him.
Mr C.J. Barnett :
Have it; it is not worth it. It is ridiculous.
Mr D.A. Templeman interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Mandurah, I formally call you to order for the
first time today. Premier, there is no need for you to respond, whatsoever. I
formally call you to order for the first time as well. Provide an answer to the
Assembly at the end of question time.
Questions without Notice Resumed
PERTH CULTURAL CENTRE
254. Mr M.W. SUTHERLAND to the Minister for Planning:
I was pleased to hear the announcement in the Treasurer's
budget speech of funding for the new museum. Today the Leader of the Opposition
said that if the Labor Party was in government in 2013, it would defer this
project. Can the minister provide the house with more information about this
important project and what it means for Western Australia?
Point of Order
Mrs
M.H. ROBERTS : I am inquiring whether the Premier has forwarded to
you the piece of paper that you required of him.
Mr C.J. Barnett :
Have it; it is not worth it. It is ridiculous.
Mr D.A. Templeman interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Mandurah, I formally call you to order for the
first time today. Premier, there is no need for you to respond, whatsoever. I
formally call you to order for the first time as well. Provide an answer to the
Assembly at the end of question time.
Questions without Notice Resumed
AnswerView source ↗
I am delighted to answer this question as the Minister for
Planning; Culture and the Arts; Science and Innovation because this project is
relevant to all those portfolios, but particularly the culture and arts
portfolio. At long last a Western Australian government has made the decision
to go ahead with the new museum for Western Australia on the site of the old
Francis Street building in the Perth Cultural Centre. The announcement by the
Treasurer in the budget last week that the government will go ahead with a
complete redevelopment of the Western Australian Museum in the Perth Cultural
Centre has been widely welcomed not only within the arts community, but also
more widely within the Western Australian community. From my observations and
from all the comments that have been made to me, that is the case right across
the political spectrum. Therefore, it was with amazement that only an hour or
so ago I heard the Leader of the Opposition say that if the Labor Party
happened to be elected to government in March next year, it would defer the
museum project, with no indication until when. We can therefore assume that it
would be deferred indefinitely for another 10 or 20 years.
Mr M. McGowan : You
are just making things up.
Mr J.H.D. DAY :
Tell us when.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Premier, I formally call you to order for the second time today. If members
want me to walk out and start this process again, we can do that. It is quite
easy to do that.
Mr J.H.D. DAY : The
Leader of the Opposition indicated that should the Labor Party be successful at
the election in March next year, the museum project would be deferred. It would
be very interesting to know for how long.
Mr M. McGowan :
There is one year in the forward estimates, the fourth year—$70 million.
We will spend that on police stations. We have a better priority than you. You
don't care about law and order and police. You can go with your woolly
mammoth; we're going with police stations. Woolly mammoth man versus
police stations.
The SPEAKER :
Leader of the Opposition! Minister for Planning, if you want to answer this
question, I suggest you get about answering it. If you are going to ask
questions of members on the other side of the chamber, you will get a variety
of responses.
Mr J.H.D. DAY :
There is funding in the forward estimates —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Member for Forrestfield, I formally call you to order for the first time today.
Two questions have been asked in 17 minutes. Presumably a lot of that time has
been me standing on my feet in this place.
Mr J.H.D. DAY :
There is in fact funding in three of the four years of the forward estimates,
adding to a total of $70.5 million as the initial stage of the $428.3 million
project that this government has decided to go ahead with. I also point out
that there is $2.5 million in planning funding, which is being rolled over from
2011–12 into 2012–13.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Member for Armadale, I formally call you to order for the first and second time
today. Member for West Swan, I will grant you that privilege as well; I call
you to order for the first and second time today.
Mr
J.H.D. DAY : All good museums add enormously to the civic, cultural and
educational life of a city and the state.
Mr
C.C. Porter interjected.
Mr
J.H.D. DAY : The Western Australian Museum, as the Treasurer has just said,
is also a very substantial scientific institution in Western Australia,
particularly in the fields of natural sciences, anthropology, archaeology and
history; its expertise in those areas is internationally recognised. The new
museum project is, as much as anything, for the children of Western Australia,
because it will be a very substantial educational facility and place of
enjoyment and learning for the children of Western Australia as they grow up. I
am sure that all of us who have grown up in Western Australia will remember
visiting the Museum and seeing the blue whale, which has not been on display
since the building was vacated when Labor was in office in 2003. It is very
clear —
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Perth, I formally call you to order for the first time
today. Member for West Swan, this is your third formal call to order.
Mr
J.H.D. DAY : It is very clear that there is a large degree of discomfort
within the opposition about this question, given the announcement that was made
by the Leader of the Opposition today, because I am sure that announcement will
cause a lot of disgust in the arts community of Western Australia, not to
mention the wider community. Let us look at some of the comments and
observations made by members other than government members. The member for
Perth, for example, put out a media statement on Monday, 14 May, just last
week, in which he stated —
''The Barnett Government must
restore the funding in this week's State budget and give Western
Australia
There is a bit missing from my
notes, but presumably he meant to say ''the Museum it deserves''.
He was clearly calling —
Mr
J.N. Hyde : You had $500 million in 2008, and you took it away from the
Museum then!
Mr
J.H.D. DAY : The project is happening—co-located with the Art
Gallery of Western Australia —
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Minister for Planning, if you are going to refer to members by
their seat in this place, you should expect some response back. I do not want
to hear any conversations at the moment, members; I do not want to hear any
conversations whatsoever. I am going to once again inform you that we have
managed to get our way through only two questions in more than 20 minutes.
Minister for Planning, I will give you another minute, and I mean a minute, to
conclude this answer.
Mr
J.H.D. DAY : There are many people I could quote in relation to the
desirability of this project, but seeing my time is very limited, I will choose
one from Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum. According to my notes,
he stated last week —
The decision by the Western
Australian Government to invest in a new State Museum in Perth is great news
not just for Australia, but for the world.
Not only is Perth one of the great
cities of the Indian Ocean: Western Australia contains some of the oldest
evidence of life on Earth, one of the World's oldest settled indigenous
civilizations, a richly diverse and rapidly diversifying population and one of
the most bio-diverse places on the planet. What a basis for an incredible new
museum!
At the British Museum, we look
forward to a long and productive relationship with the WA Museum as it embarks
on one of the most significant Museum developments in the World now.
There is a clear demarcation between
the Liberal–National government, which is going ahead with this
much-needed project, and the Labor opposition, which is clearly not concerned
about the future, has no vision and no interest in doing anything of substance
in the arts.
Planning; Culture and the Arts; Science and Innovation because this project is
relevant to all those portfolios, but particularly the culture and arts
portfolio. At long last a Western Australian government has made the decision
to go ahead with the new museum for Western Australia on the site of the old
Francis Street building in the Perth Cultural Centre. The announcement by the
Treasurer in the budget last week that the government will go ahead with a
complete redevelopment of the Western Australian Museum in the Perth Cultural
Centre has been widely welcomed not only within the arts community, but also
more widely within the Western Australian community. From my observations and
from all the comments that have been made to me, that is the case right across
the political spectrum. Therefore, it was with amazement that only an hour or
so ago I heard the Leader of the Opposition say that if the Labor Party
happened to be elected to government in March next year, it would defer the
museum project, with no indication until when. We can therefore assume that it
would be deferred indefinitely for another 10 or 20 years.
Mr M. McGowan : You
are just making things up.
Mr J.H.D. DAY :
Tell us when.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Premier, I formally call you to order for the second time today. If members
want me to walk out and start this process again, we can do that. It is quite
easy to do that.
Mr J.H.D. DAY : The
Leader of the Opposition indicated that should the Labor Party be successful at
the election in March next year, the museum project would be deferred. It would
be very interesting to know for how long.
Mr M. McGowan :
There is one year in the forward estimates, the fourth year—$70 million.
We will spend that on police stations. We have a better priority than you. You
don't care about law and order and police. You can go with your woolly
mammoth; we're going with police stations. Woolly mammoth man versus
police stations.
The SPEAKER :
Leader of the Opposition! Minister for Planning, if you want to answer this
question, I suggest you get about answering it. If you are going to ask
questions of members on the other side of the chamber, you will get a variety
of responses.
Mr J.H.D. DAY :
There is funding in the forward estimates —
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Member for Forrestfield, I formally call you to order for the first time today.
Two questions have been asked in 17 minutes. Presumably a lot of that time has
been me standing on my feet in this place.
Mr J.H.D. DAY :
There is in fact funding in three of the four years of the forward estimates,
adding to a total of $70.5 million as the initial stage of the $428.3 million
project that this government has decided to go ahead with. I also point out
that there is $2.5 million in planning funding, which is being rolled over from
2011–12 into 2012–13.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER :
Member for Armadale, I formally call you to order for the first and second time
today. Member for West Swan, I will grant you that privilege as well; I call
you to order for the first and second time today.
Mr
J.H.D. DAY : All good museums add enormously to the civic, cultural and
educational life of a city and the state.
Mr
C.C. Porter interjected.
Mr
J.H.D. DAY : The Western Australian Museum, as the Treasurer has just said,
is also a very substantial scientific institution in Western Australia,
particularly in the fields of natural sciences, anthropology, archaeology and
history; its expertise in those areas is internationally recognised. The new
museum project is, as much as anything, for the children of Western Australia,
because it will be a very substantial educational facility and place of
enjoyment and learning for the children of Western Australia as they grow up. I
am sure that all of us who have grown up in Western Australia will remember
visiting the Museum and seeing the blue whale, which has not been on display
since the building was vacated when Labor was in office in 2003. It is very
clear —
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Perth, I formally call you to order for the first time
today. Member for West Swan, this is your third formal call to order.
Mr
J.H.D. DAY : It is very clear that there is a large degree of discomfort
within the opposition about this question, given the announcement that was made
by the Leader of the Opposition today, because I am sure that announcement will
cause a lot of disgust in the arts community of Western Australia, not to
mention the wider community. Let us look at some of the comments and
observations made by members other than government members. The member for
Perth, for example, put out a media statement on Monday, 14 May, just last
week, in which he stated —
''The Barnett Government must
restore the funding in this week's State budget and give Western
Australia
There is a bit missing from my
notes, but presumably he meant to say ''the Museum it deserves''.
He was clearly calling —
Mr
J.N. Hyde : You had $500 million in 2008, and you took it away from the
Museum then!
Mr
J.H.D. DAY : The project is happening—co-located with the Art
Gallery of Western Australia —
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Minister for Planning, if you are going to refer to members by
their seat in this place, you should expect some response back. I do not want
to hear any conversations at the moment, members; I do not want to hear any
conversations whatsoever. I am going to once again inform you that we have
managed to get our way through only two questions in more than 20 minutes.
Minister for Planning, I will give you another minute, and I mean a minute, to
conclude this answer.
Mr
J.H.D. DAY : There are many people I could quote in relation to the
desirability of this project, but seeing my time is very limited, I will choose
one from Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum. According to my notes,
he stated last week —
The decision by the Western
Australian Government to invest in a new State Museum in Perth is great news
not just for Australia, but for the world.
Not only is Perth one of the great
cities of the Indian Ocean: Western Australia contains some of the oldest
evidence of life on Earth, one of the World's oldest settled indigenous
civilizations, a richly diverse and rapidly diversifying population and one of
the most bio-diverse places on the planet. What a basis for an incredible new
museum!
At the British Museum, we look
forward to a long and productive relationship with the WA Museum as it embarks
on one of the most significant Museum developments in the World now.
There is a clear demarcation between
the Liberal–National government, which is going ahead with this
much-needed project, and the Labor opposition, which is clearly not concerned
about the future, has no vision and no interest in doing anything of substance
in the arts.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.