Page 4578 - Week 16 - Tuesday, 27 November 1990
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
personal representations, I recall having one meeting with representatives of Opera ACT, and having at least three personal meetings with representatives of Canberra City Opera, as well as numerous telephone conversations, numerous letters, several discussions with the Arts Development Board, and several other discussions with other people in the ministry on the subject.
There is no issue in the arts portfolio which has been better ventilated within the Government, that is, within my office, than the question of whether Canberra City Opera ought to have been funded. But the basic fact remains, Mr Speaker, that Canberra is a small place and we have limited resources - even more limited when the Commonwealth reduces funding for the ACT - and for us to fund two opera companies is quite simply a luxury we cannot afford. Quite frankly, we struggle to fund one opera company.
In the circumstances, as Minister for the Arts I have only one choice, and it is a longstanding policy, and that is to choose between the two applications. I expressly asked the Arts Development Board to address this particular issue and the arguments raised by the Canberra City Opera for funding. The view of the Arts Development Board was quite specific. Its members felt that the application of Canberra City Opera ought to be rejected in favour of the application of Opera ACT. I have exhaustively examined the evidence in this regard, and I fully support the ADB's advice to me.
MR WOOD: I have a supplementary question, Mr Speaker. In your last sentence, Mr Humphries, you said that you had taken the advice of the Arts Development Board. Why then did you reject the advice of the Arts Development Board in relation to the Canberra Theatre Company? Why cannot you be consistent?
MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Wood misunderstands the nature of the process. There are two processes to go through. One is for the Arts Development Board to consider applications for funding and to make suitable recommendations to the Government. The second process, which is a very important part of the overall process of making allocations to arts organisations, is for the Minister, himself or herself, to address his or her mind to the advice received and to decide whether it is good advice. I have to say that I take the responsibility of administering those arts grants extremely seriously, and it is my view that as a rule I should accept the advice of the Arts Development Board.
As far as this year's round of applications is concerned I have accepted its advice in total, with one exception. In both the case of the Canberra Theatre Company and the case of the Canberra City Opera I have very carefully examined the evidence and heard many views expressed directly by many providers of theatre and opera services in the ACT, and I have come to the considered view that I should accept the advice of the ADB as far as opera is concerned and
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .