Powerhouse Inquiry Update

BY KRISTEN TSIAMIS

The Upper House inquiry into the proposed sale of Ultimo’s Powerhouse Museum began hearing formal submissions on Monday 5th and Tuesday 6th September. There has been a further hearing day on the 4th of October because the inquiry committee had certain further questions to ask some of the witnesses.

Patricia Johnson, co-convenor of Save the Powerhouse campaign testified on Monday and said that this extra day is unusual.

According to Ms Johnson, this extra hearing day will be held the day after the regional tour day because “the committee wanted witnesses to clarify some of their earlier testimony.”

Ms Johnson said the Save the Powerhouse campaign is the “only group as far as we know, formed entirely to represent community interests across New South Wales for Powerhouse issues, bar the North Parramatta Residents Action Group who have worked closely together since the campaign started over a year ago. “

Ms Johnon belives the Inquiry has been run smoothly: “it’s been conducted very well, we’re very pleased with the intelligence and thoughtfulness of the committee, and they’re mostly very interested in this issue.”

Greens MP for Balmain Jamie Parker has strongly advocated for the inquiry to help stop the sale, as he believes the proposed sale by the Baird government was “a real estate deal rather than a cultural commitment.”

The proposal, made in late 2015, did not come from the Arts Community, but rather from Infrastructure NSW, established in 2011 under the O’Farrell government to help identify land and property to sell.

The proposal to sell the site where the Powerhouse currently sits was “not a cultural decision, but rather an infrastructure asset decision” that will see an inferior Powerhouse Museum being built in Parramatta” he said.

Even if another Powerhouse were to be build in Parramatta, it would need a large injection of funds as “the sale of the Powerhouse will not allow a like for like Powerhouse in Parramatta, but rather an inferior version for the people of Western Sydney.”

The inquiry is a good move forward, according to Mr Parker, as he hopes it will help “remove the veil of secrecy, and show people the true costs of the government’s proposed changes.”

Mr Parker is confident that the inquiry will lead to a change in course by the government, as it will demonstrate how poor the decision was, and highlight the lack of benefit for the public.

Simply moving the Powerhouse to Parramatta, according to Mr Parker, shows the “disdain that the government has for the people of Western Sydney.”

Putting the Powerhouse in Parramatta would “cost an extra $400 million at least, to build a second Powerhouse in the area.”

Ms Johnson agreed with Mr Parker, and says that “neither Parramatta nor broader Sydney want the Powerhouse to be moved, Western Sydney wants a new facility of their own.”

Ms Johnson told City Hub “the recommendations that the committee are going to report should shed a great deal of light on a murky process, as the whole Powerhouse issue has been very non-transparent and with very over-projected costs.”

Ms Johnson said that the future of the Powerhouse is unclear, as even if the inquiry recommends that the Powerhouse not be moved, the government is not legally bound to listen to these recommendations. Although they “must respond, they’re not legally obliged to do anything that is recommended.”

Mr Parker says that even if the government “got $200 million from the sale of the Ultimo site, a new Powerhouse cannot be built from the income of the site sale. It would could hundreds of millions of dollars more.”

Mr Parker said that there are other options for the proposed Parramatta site, including “creating a truly relevant cultural facility in Western Sydney that speaks to the people of the area rather than real estate deal”, a state museum, migration museum, an Indigenous museum or a secondary Powerhouse that helps showcase the more than 90% of unseen artefacts currently in storage at the museum.

The first step before planning a museum of any kind, Mr Parker said, is to ask the public, “ask the people what they want, rather than just putting the museum there.”

Mr Parker said that the inquiry will ultimately “vindicate the concern that the arts community has demonstrated” and will find that “Infrastructure NSW made an infrastructure decision, not a cultural one.”

The committee is expected to report by November 24.