RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS - Queensland Parliament ...

31 Oct 2012 Appropriation (Parliament) Bill; Appropriation Bill 2321
of the broader community. With the assistance of students, teachers, trade providers and families—and
backed by a strong proactive government with clear-cut and pragmatic action plans—we will achieve
our goal and we will make Queensland a greater state.
Our committee also reviewed our government’s budgetary commitments to the development of
the scientific, innovative, IT and artistic sectors. I would also like to take the opportunity to acknowledge
the dedication and commitment shown to her duty by the minister by sitting before the committee
despite obviously recovering from a serious medical procedure.
During the hearings the need for our state to evaluate our current strengths and weakness was
identified. From that, our government has undertaken the necessary steps, in collaboration with our
scientific and academic institutions across the broader community, to better address the current factors
and pre-empt future issues that may afflict our state. This level of support and practical investment as
demonstrated throughout the hearings reinforces the drastic level of neglect left behind by our former
government. Once again it takes a conservative government to get the job done.
It staggers the mind to think that after 20 years the former government has little, if anything, to
show besides the long-lasting legacy of debt and hypocrisy. It makes me think that the bad old days of
the Bligh Labor government was nothing more than an emulation of Emperor Nero and the old parable
idiom of fiddling while the Queensland economy burned. I support and commend the steps our
government is taking to get our state back on track. After being in government for over six months we
have achieved so much and we are on track to achieve even more. I commend this bill to the House.
Ms TRAD (South Brisbane—ALP) (9.40 pm): I rise to speak on the Education and Innovation
Committee estimates report and specifically raise serious concerns about Queensland’s most
incompetent minister—the Minister for Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts. The
minister used the estimates hearing as another occasion in which she could denigrate the arts and
Queensland artists. It is a sad fact that Queensland now has an arts minister who does not like or even
appreciate art. Even by the minister’s own and somewhat embarrassing admission, she has not had the
inclination or desire to visit a gallery or attend a performance in the decade leading up to her
appointment as arts minister.
Mr Crandon interjected.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Ruthenberg): Order! Member for Coomera, would you please return
to your seat if you are going to make comment.
Ms TRAD: Imagine that—no inclination to visit the Warhol exhibition or the Picasso exhibition or
the Matisse exhibition, no desire to attend the Paris Opera Ballet’s performance of La Bayadere from
Swan Lake or the Cuban Ballet’s performance of Don Quixote. So, once again, in her rush to ridicule the
arts, the minister used her estimates time to feign indignation regarding the commissioning of The World
Turns to celebrate the fifth birthday of the world’s most visited gallery GOMA and to celebrate the 20th
anniversary of the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art—Queensland’s most iconic recurring
exhibition celebrating art and culture from the Asia-Pacific region. Perhaps had the minister visited an
APT exhibition at some stage she would not have ridiculed it so readily.
For decades, consecutive arts ministers in this state have recognised that arts policy and funding
in this state should not be dictated by their own subjective tastes. Being appointed arts minister does not
mean you automatically gain some grand power to determine what art is acceptable and what art is not.
And thank goodness for that because this is a minister who would not be able to distinguish a Gauguin
from a van Gogh. In fact, I note the article in today’s Courier-Mail which details the discovery of a
Picasso urn in Mackay. Well, had this arts minister found this urn—and I table a copy of it for the benefit
of the House—I suspect she would have just thrown it away.
Tabled paper: Courier-Mail article, dated 31 October 2012, titled ‘Rare Picasso has Mackay valuers alert’ [1467].
When the minister was not mocking art at the estimates committee, she was refusing to give any
detail about her cuts to funding local arts programs. On multiple occasions since the budget the minister
has repeatedly asserted—
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! There is way too much audible conversation in the House. Could
you please take your conversations outside.
Ms TRAD: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. On multiple occasions since the budget the minister
has repeatedly asserted that there has been significant ‘duplication’ in arts grants programs and
significant ‘waste’ and that is the reason why she has cut $12.4 million out of the programs. I have
asked the minister on multiple occasions and have given her plenty of opportunities to present evidence
to substantiate her assertions. I am still waiting. She refuses to provide any details and, really, is this a
surprise? Given the minister’s constant references to ‘duplication’ and ‘waste’ in grants programs, it is
incumbent on her to provide the supporting evidence—something, as I said, she has been unwilling or
unable to do to date. Once again, the minister is all talk on this issue but cannot back it up with actual
evidence.