No good at Art and slippery at Maths: NSW Liberal gov “loses" $1 bill
In September the Barry O’Farrell Liberal Government of NSW
announced cuts of $1.7 million to public education, specifically targeting Fine
Art courses in TAFE technical and further education colleges, which if carried
out will result in widespread job losses and threatened closures of art schools across the
state in regional and rural areas. The economic rationale given for the cuts by
the NSW government was supposedly that the NSW economy is in the red. However
it has recently been revealed- after the cuts were announced- that mistakes
were made in the accounting figures and that the NSW economy is really $1
billion in the black.
Rather surprisingly there have been no retractions announced, or
proposals for how this extra $1 billion is going to be spent.
All of this adds up to a picture of gross inefficiency, non-transparency
and bungling –or even worse- on the part of the incumbent NSW Liberal
Government. For a start how could they manage to “lose” I billion in their
sums- where was that 1 billion going to go to when it went missing- and at the
same time the government announces that to “pay for this” Art and public
education is being axed and artists and art teachers are to lose their jobs and
students across the state?
These questions need to be asked publicly, loudly.
The government has to be accountable.
PREMIER O’FARRELL’S FAILURE TO SHOW UP TO OPEN THE FRANCIS BACON
EXHIBITION AT THE ART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES AS HE WISHED TO AVOID THE
PROTESTERS AGAINST HIS FINE ARTS EDUCATION CUTS ON THE FRONT STEPS, SHOWS A
VERY VISIBLE LACK OF FACE BY THE PREMIER.
Sunday
An estimated 4,000 people turned out on Sunday at a day of
family action at Tumbalong Park in Sydney’s Darling Harbour, to protest
Education cuts and show support for the activism against the NSW Liberal
government’s increasingly unpopular anti public Education and Art education
measures.
Monday
TODAY AT 6PM AT DAMIEN MINTON GALLERY IN SYDNEY THERE WILL BE A
GATHERING OF ART GALLERISTS, AND ART WRITERS WITH THE MEDIA TO PROVIDE A PHOTO
OPPORTUNITY AND PRESS CONFERENCE ON THE SITUATION CREATED BY THESE PROPOSED
CUTS AND THE IMPACTS ON LOCAL ART AND ARTISTS AND THE NATIONAL ART SCENES.
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