Page 3748 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 9 December 1992
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MR WOOD: You were talking about a very ambitious vision - - -
Mr Cornwell: Of the Cultural Council.
MR WOOD: Yes, of the Cultural Council, which is driven, of course, by the requirements of government and their own interests. I do not think they are too ambitious. I hope that they are very ambitious, because we want to make more and more progress in this area. "Why should we", claims Mr Cornwell, "replicate the Australian Opera?". I am using my words again. He asked, "Why do we need opera in the ACT?".
Mr Cornwell: No, I didn't.
MR WOOD: I will be more precise. He said that we do not have the millions of people that Sydney, which has an opera company, has.
Mr Cornwell: No, it was not an opera company; it was an example.
MR WOOD: All right, opera. We do not replicate the Australian Opera. Opera in the ACT is appropriate to the ACT. Mr Westende has made the very sensible comment that we have three companies hoping to be opera companies. The firm message that the Government is giving to them is: There will be one opera company. If they cannot get their act together - - -
Mrs Grassby: There will be none.
MR WOOD: That could well be the case, and I have been very emphatic about that. Indeed, in the round of submissions this time, two opera companies - two competing companies, unfortunately - made a submission to put on the same opera. Each probably did it unaware of what the other was doing. There was a time not long ago when I thought that the two major groups had got their act together and were going to become one group, but apparently that fell through.
Mr Cornwell further asked, "Why do we need a local art gallery when we have the National Gallery?".
Mr Berry: Did he say it like that, with that sneering contempt?
MR WOOD: Mr Berry, I hope that I was not talking in that way. Let me moderate my voice. It is a question that was asked often when I was moving around with the Select Committee on Cultural Activities and Facilities. People asked, "Why do we need a local art gallery when we have the National Gallery?". The fact is that because we have the National Gallery we urgently need a local perspective. The National Gallery does not provide that. The National Gallery overshadows the local perspective, the local effort.
Mr Cornwell: You have private galleries all over town.
MR WOOD: There are private galleries all over town. They are commercial galleries. The major ones do a wonderful job. The Solander Gallery, for example, would match any gallery in Australia for the quality of the works it gets. The Beaver Gallery, likewise, has a marvellous range of crafts. I could mention a whole range of other galleries. They are commercial galleries and they are commercially driven. They do not often reflect the local art needs. Do not put down your local artists.
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