Thursday, 4 May 2023

Gallery funding

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (09:48): I want to raise a matter today, which is the funding of our public galleries across the state. As we approach the state budget – and I understand the financial woes of the state and the fact that the state government has, through its financial mismanagement, particularly of major projects, left us in a very bad financial position – I do plead the case for many of the public galleries, which are both important local cultural institutions and also very significant economic generators. They are very significant in terms of tourism and very significant in terms of local culture. Before the last state election we committed $40 million for the upgrade of the Geelong performing arts and gallery complex and also committed funds for a number of other galleries around the state. The state government appears not to have prioritised our public galleries around the state, and I think that is unfortunate.

I think it is true that Victoria gets less than its share of federal support for these sorts of occasions. It is true that after we announced money for the Bendigo gallery the federal opposition indicated it would provide some significant support too – the federal Labor Party, I should say – and we welcomed that commitment because we see that often this is a partnership between state, federal and local. Galleries are important and should be prioritised in this budget over many of the wasteful things this government undertakes.