Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

A few weeks ago on a Friday afternoon 20 people at the National Gallery of Australia were given some really bad news. They were told that their jobs had been cut and that they were out of a job as of Monday. You can imagine those 20 people going home to their families that Friday night, looking forward to the weekend, to spending some time with their kids, to going to sport on the weekend, to perhaps catching up with friends over a dinner party. You can imagine how they felt about the fact that they had lost their jobs as of Monday and about going home to their families with that heavy heart and that fear to announce the news. You can imagine how the news was received when they got home and the uncertainty that it created amongst their children: 'Will it mean that we have to move from Canberra? Will it mean that I have to leave my school? Will it mean that I have to leave my local community and my local sporting club?' Imagine their partners thinking, 'Will I have to leave Canberra? Will I have to leave my job? What does this mean in terms of my future and my career?' And imagine what they were also thinking in terms of, 'What is my future? What is my career? Here I am.'

I met two of them on the Saturday morning, and they were still in shock, but they had at the front of their mind: 'Well, how am I going to pay the mortgage? What is going to be my future? I am an expert in my field. I have spent decades building up my skills in a very highly technical and expert area. What sort of job—what sort of future—is there for me? Here I am in my mid-40s or my mid-50s, facing this fear of not being able to pay the mortgage and possibly having to relocate—having to relocate my children, relocate my partner and relocate my partner—to get another job. Who knows—given that I am 45 or 50—what opportunities will be there for the future?'

So that was a grim day a few weeks ago at our National Gallery of Australia for those 20 people and those 20 families. But the cuts to jobs throughout our national institutions have not been isolated to those 20 people at the National Gallery and their families. These cuts have been taking place since this government was elected in 2013. Since this government was elected in 2013, there has been cut after cut after cut at our national institutions. It has been sustained. At the National Archives of Australia, 39 people have lost their jobs. At the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, 47 people have lost their jobs. At the National Gallery of Australia, I mentioned those 20, who are among 28 who have lost their jobs. At the National Library of Australia, 41 people have lost their jobs; at the National Museum of Australia, five people; at the National Portrait Gallery of Australia, 11 people; and at Old Parliament House, the great old Wedding Cake, two people. At the Australian War Memorial, which protects and preserves the memories of those who have sacrificed their lives in the service of this nation to defend this nation, 61 people have lost their jobs since this government was elected; at the Royal Australian Mint, 26 people; at the High Court of Australia, 10 people; at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, three people; and, at the Australian Institute of Sport, 114 people. That is hundreds and hundreds of people who have lost their jobs in our national institutions and our sporting institutions since this government was elected, and that means there are hundreds and hundreds fewer people who are looking after, preserving, curating and conserving our national collection. These are hundreds and hundreds of people who are now not doing that anymore.

I am very concerned about what that means for our national collection. We have many millions of dollars invested in our art collection at the National Gallery. We have our war history and memories of those thousands and thousands of lives that were sacrificed in war. There are fewer people now looking after, conserving and preserving those memories. At the National Library of Australia, where we have every edition of every book that has been produced by an Australian in this country—including first editions of Blinky Bill and The Magic Puddingtheir preservation, conservation and ability to tell those wonderful stories for generations to come are potentially being compromised as a result of 41 people at the National Library having lost their jobs since this government was elected. There are 41 fewer people being able to conduct that work.

What this means, in terms of actual numbers, is not just the hundreds and hundreds of jobs—all those hundreds and hundreds of people and the hundreds and hundreds of families that have been affected. We are talking here about one in 10 staff at the national institutions. Ten per cent of the staff at the national institutions have lost their jobs since this government was elected. When you broaden it out to a number of other national organisations, we are looking at one in eight, or 12 per cent of people, who have lost their jobs and whose families have been affected as a result of job cuts under this government.

As I said, that means we have hundreds and hundreds fewer people looking after our national collection: the Brett Whiteleys, the Margaret Prestons and the much-derided—recently by one senator—and much-loved Blue Poles by Jackson Pollock, a definite and iconic piece in his life's work. The Americans are very envious that we have that piece in Australia. Despite the fact that it was lambasted when the late, great Gough Whitlam bought it, that piece is one of Jackson Pollock's most iconic works, if not his most iconic work. But with hundreds and hundreds fewer people looking after those works now, what does it mean for their conservation and their preservation and for their ability to tell our national story in the future?

Phar Lap's heart is at the National Museum. Since the government was elected there are five fewer people at the National Museum looking after the collection, including Phar Lap's heart, which I remember seeing is a child at the National Museum of Victoria. Now it has come up to our great national capital.

I know a number of people outside Canberra would say, 'Why should I care? These are Canberra institutions; these are Canberra jobs. This has no impact on me.' I would say to them: 'This does have a significant impact on you and will have on your children and their children. It will have a significant impact on future generations.' It has a significant impact because the fewer the people who are conserving, preserving and curating our national collection, the greater the potential for that collection to be killed. There is significant potential that the collection will not be able to tell our national story to future generations. There is significant potential for the National Library to be no longer able to tell our national story, for the National Gallery to be no longer able to tell our national story through art and for the War Memorial to be no longer able to tell our story about the great sacrifices that have been made to defend our nation in the name of democracy and peace. It means that the story about our democracy at Old Parliament House could be affected by the job cuts. The story of our culture that is so brilliantly told at the National Museum could be affected by these job cuts. The National Film and Sound Archive has had significant job cuts—47 since this government was elected. The Film and Sound Archive has the first edition of Ned Kelly, that crazy black and white thing that we have all seen snippets of. It has that in its collection. That could potentially be affected by these job cuts.

That is why I say this is not just a Canberra story. Canberra is our nation's capital. Canberra draws a thread through every state and territory to our nation and it tells our national story. It is also the seat of our great democracy. I say to everyone in Australia: you do need to take notice of this. You do need to fight these cuts to these national institutions, because they are affecting your story, your nation's capital, your national collection, your national literature, your national film, your national war memorial and your national sports institutions. The cuts are affecting your story.

I encourage all Australians to take an interest in this. They should write to their local member and let them know that we can no longer sustain these cuts to our national institutions and our national collection. Everyone knows that national institutions are lean organisations. Everyone knows that arts institutions, be they in regional Australia or in the major cities in Australia, are pretty mean and lean outfits. We are not cutting into flesh with these cuts. We are not cutting into bone with these cuts. We are cutting into vital organs with these cuts, and it is affecting our national story. In my view, these cuts have the potential to kill or have a significant impact on our national story.

So I say again to all Australians: write to your local member and let them know that we can no longer sustain these cuts. Enough is enough. You do not want our national story killed. You do not want our national collection affected anymore; you do not want it compromised anymore. Because you cannot preserve a national collection of art, of literature, of film, of war artefacts, of sporting icons and of cultural icons if you do not have the skilled experts to do so.

As I said, we have people at the National Gallery who have been in these jobs for decades. They have spent decades building up those skills. They are rare beasts in Australia. These are people we should be valuing. We should not be telling them on Friday afternoon that—after all their decades of service to our nation, to our democracy, to our national story—essentially, 'Your job on Monday is gone'. They deserve more dignity than this. They deserve more respect than this. You are 45-years-old; you are 55-years-old; you have a very highly specialised skill. That is what those 20 people at the National Gallery had to face a few weeks ago.

This is not just a unique story to the National Gallery. These are stories that have been played out since 2013, when this Liberal government was elected. These stories have played out around kitchen tables and in living rooms, in tearful scenes in carparks. These stories have played out right across Canberra for the last four years. All these experts and all these highly skilled staff—in our National Archives, in our National Film And Sound Archive and in the National Library, these stories have played out right across our national institutions, right across Canberra. That is why I call on an end to this.

Morale is at rock bottom in many of our national institutions. They are trying to make do. They are trying to do their job; to preserve, to protect, to curate, to continue to tell our national story. They are doing their best to do that, but they are doing it with very limited resources, and those resources are becoming fewer and fewer.

So I say to all Australians: this is your nation's capital; these are your national institutions. If you value them, if you want your grandchildren to see Phar Lap's heart, if you want your grandchildren to see the first edition of Blinky Bill or the first edition of The Magic Pudding, if you want your grandchildren to see the first edition of Ned Kelly—if you want your grandchildren to stand in the entry foyer of the National Gallery of Australia and see those fabulous iconic Indigenous pieces that have been collected over the years, highly treasured and much loved by Canberrans and all Australians who go into that foyer in the National Gallery—then I encourage you to write to your local member and tell them enough is enough. We can no longer afford these cuts. We can no longer sustain these cuts. It is killing our national story.

We are cutting not into flesh; we are cutting not into bone; we are cutting into vital organs. And, once you start doing that, you have the potential for things to end, for our national story to be killed. So, please, Australians, write to your local member and let them know enough is enough.

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