Gallery: The Gunner spin goes on

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2592 Robyn Lambley (ABC pic) OKCOMMENT by ERWIN CHLANDA
 
Independent MLA for Araluen Robyn Lambley (at left) did not get a straight answer from Chief Minister Michael Gunner about the National Indigenous Art Gallery which is in limbo as a result of his government’s inept handling of it.
 
Her question in the Assembly yesterday was: “Where are you going to build the gallery?”
 
There was no straight answer to this but what did become clear is the Federal Government is going to give South Australia $85m to build such a gallery, raising the question: Are the Feds going to give NT the same amount? We have put the question to CLP Senator for the NT, Nigel Scullion.
 
Mr Gunner said there is “work being done now, parallel to the work that goes to a physical site selection”. Does that mean that the government is no longer stubbornly fixated on the Anzac Precinct? Or is Mr Gunner expecting to be able, over time, to pressure the Aboriginal elders opposed to his preferred site into submission?
 
“As a government we have clearly been trying to sell this in Alice for two-and-a-half years.” This is a blatant distortion of the truth. There is hardly anyone in this town to whom the gallery needs to be “sold”. What Mr Gunner was trying to “sell” was the Anzac Precinct, or rather shove it down the public’s throat.
 
“There are people in positions of influence in Alice Springs who constantly run interference. These are people who find it easy to identify problems rather than solutions.” Interference with what? The concept of a gallery? No way. The location? Absolutely. Clearly Mr Gunner’s approach remains spinning the facts, a position which so far has cost the public $1m in propaganda for his preferred site – not consultation, as claimed.
 
“The Member for Araluen is one of these leaders [who run interference] and I call upon her to be part of the solutions and not constantly part of the problem in finding a way through for issues like this in Alice Springs.” In fact Ms Lambley has consistently promoted the concept of a gallery. She consistently argued for coming to a solution about the location.
 
“We will build it in Alice Springs. It will be magnificent. We are in a positive competition with South Australia. I formally met with Premier Marshall under our strategic relationships document. We agreed to have a good relationship between the two galleries we are building in order to direct traffic.”
 
2473 Nats Gunner 2 OKDoes Mr Gunner (at right) have Mr Marshall’s agreement that both galleries will be described as “national”? Or will that label be reserved for the one in Alice Springs, not the one in Adelaide? (South Australia already has an acclaimed collection of Aboriginal art, but then the NT, as we are seeing with the exhibition Tjungunutja, also has something very precious on offer.)
 
“Importantly for us, not so good for Premier Marshall is the national recognition that Alice Springs is the natural place for this art gallery.” What’s the evidence for that? We still have not seen a business plan that would surely give us a comparative measure of that.
 
Mrs LAMBLEY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! With 15 seconds left, where in Alice Springs are you going to build the gallery?
 
Mr GUNNER: We are confident in the positive partnership with town council—it is clear that in Alice Springs the town council is integral to this solution. We are happy to work with them, we are keen to build the art gallery and we will do it.
 
Aha. So it’s the Town Council’s fault that the project is stalled. Giving non-answers has become the hallmark of Mr Gunner.
 
 
 

7 COMMENTS

  1. Alice should have a cultural centre and let’s leave the art gallery to Adelaide.
    Art been part of the culture, we will have both.
    I fail to understand why Mr Gunner blames the Town Council. The Town Council is us the residents and ratepayers, and we said no to Anzac Oval. What is so hard to understand?

  2. Can we spend money on the crime issues in this town and let the art gallery go away. We don’t need another art gallery!

  3. I would agree with Evelyne (20/03/2019).
    Let’s have an Aboriginal Cultural Centre with art being a strong component of it, and let Adelaide have the National Aboriginal Art Gallery on North Terrace (as already planned).
    Imagine the competition with Araluen Arts Centre if a National Aboriginal Art Gallery (NAAG) opens next to it. Not a commercial gallery as some may have misunderstood, but a National Museum of Aboriginal Art with special occasional world class exhibitions.
    It may ring the demise of Araluen if its annual Desert Mob, its Namatjira gallery, or the recent “Weapons for the soldiers” and the fantastically curated Papunya desert art “Tjungunutja” were to be moved to a NAAG.
    We may all scream then “Save our Araluen!”
    Now that Anzac Hill Oval site has been listed as Heritage by the Heritage Council NT, perhaps that the adjacent former Anzac High School could be identified as the site for the Central Australia Cultural Centre with all the attributes of being close to the CBD etc. (If only the TOs would agree to it.)

  4. The position of a National Aboriginal Art Gallery would sensibly be where tourists and visitors are, or can easily get to. That ain’t Alice.
    The positioning of a National Aboriginal Cultural Centre is another matter. Here Alice should come into its own as being in the centre of Australia. All roads lead to Alice, past and present.
    But there’s a problem.
    For a cultural centre it is imperative that it have not just Aboriginal agency, but Aboriginal ownership. Full ownership.
    And once they grasp that, governments tend to let the whole project slip over into the too-hard basket.

  5. Agency or ownership the government is not interested in indigenous involvement or cultural considerations. Just had a call from a senior TO ,(a member of the group that put the kibosh on the Anzac oval site) saying they just heard on the radio that the governments latest plan is to try to get council to move to Anzac high so the gallery can go on the council office site. I guess hearing about it on the radio is what government calls consultation.

  6. I fail to see what an art gallery will bring to this town. Tourists? They have already been advised to keep away from Alice due to violence and crime.
    So with no tourists coming here who is going to visit this gallery? Alice Springs is in crisis mode. High affordable housing – Housing Commission don’t have maintenance staff anymore so has to go out to others for fixing.
    Put your name down for priority housing – two year wait. So having said that, why are we wasting money on things that are not needed or wanted in this town?

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