Page 3780 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 8 November 1994
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National Museum of Australia
MR STEFANIAK: My question is to the Chief Minister. I ask the Chief Minister: Now that the Federal ALP has completely broken its election promise to develop the National Museum of Australia in Canberra, does the Government stand by its commitment to fund infrastructure costs to the sum of $13m for this very much watered-down version of a museum; or, since we stand to get only one-third of the original museum, will the Government be funding one-third of the infrastructure costs?
MS FOLLETT: Madam Speaker, the sheer hypocrisy of those opposite leaves me breathless. Having offered no support whatsoever to the National Museum project, they are now universally, both locally and federally, and quite falsely of course, whingeing that they do not think that it is being realised. When the Federal Government gave a commitment to the National Museum of Australia, where were the Liberals at the last election? They were backing away at a million miles an hour. The absolute hypocrisy of their now coming forward and saying that they were in favour of it all along is almost breathtaking.
Madam Speaker, it is well known that this Government has supported the National Museum all along. In order to give impetus to its development, I made a commitment that this Government would fund the infrastructure for the museum. In putting a costing on that, we had assumed that the museum would be proceeding at Yarramundi. The infrastructure costing that we had done was always a very rough costing because there were no design studies and no siting studies done. The cost that we had developed was of the order of $13m maximum.
Opposition members interjected.
MS FOLLETT: They do not want to hear the answer. Madam Speaker, I maintain my commitment to providing infrastructure for the National Museum and to a financial contribution of that order. As the site of the development has changed, I cannot say whether that would be the cost required from the ACT Government; but I certainly would not be tempted or persuaded to go beyond that.
Mr Stefaniak has said that the Federal Government has reneged on its commitment. I would like, just for the information of members, to correct that extremely inaccurate statement. Madam Speaker, I would like to quote, firstly, from a statement made by the Federal Minister, Mr Lee, in the House of Representatives on 18 October. Mr Lee, the Minister for Communications and the Arts, said:
... let me make it clear that the government today has announced that funding will be provided to establish a gallery of Aboriginal Australia on the Acton Peninsula. The government has always made it clear that this would be the next stage of the National Museum. Let me quote the words of the Prime Minister in relation to the establishment of the gallery of Aboriginal Australia.
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