Page 2660 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 15 August 2017
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no idea what the final product would look like and how it would meld with the master plan.
The acting minister told me that there had been consultation with stakeholders along the way and that this would continue. This is a positive, I thought. But as to transitional arrangements for stakeholders moving to the precinct, this government tells me that its priority is to finalise the sale and design of the precinct. This government will start looking at transition arrangements only after construction begins.
By then the horse will have bolted. It will be too late for the government or even the developer to learn what the stakeholders will need and how they might be best accommodated. Work on transition arrangements must be in progress now, in parallel with finalising the development plans, if it is to have any chance of success.
Surely it should be to everyone’s advantage to know who will be moving to the precinct, what assistance they will get, how they will be accommodated, and what they will need. It is a bit like a developer constructing an apartment building but not selling any units off the plan. This government simply has no strategy.
Another question I asked of the minister was about the specific targets the government has for achieving community engagement in and access to the arts. Again a non-answer came back, showing that this government has no strategy. The acting minister told me:
The accountability indicator for the arts engagement output on the engagement activities assists in achieving community engagement in and access to the arts.
That does not mean anything. That is a direct quote.
Notice two things: in that one sentence the word “engagement” was used three times. Secondly, the answer simply asserts, without any supporting evidence, that the accountability indicator assists in achieving community engagement in the arts. The answer concluded:
There are no other specific targets set.
(Second speaking period taken.)
This is a classic circular argument designed to do little more than confuse and bamboozle its audience, meaningless drivel from a minister of a government who has no strategy for arts engagement in this territory. It would make an excellent line for an episode of Yes, Minister. They have not all been written yet. Some of them were written during the estimates process.
Then I asked why the accountability indicators for arts engagement suggest a stagnation of achievement. The answer was that the number of funded organisations had not changed and the number of programs delivered, and consequently attendance,
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