Hollie Hughes (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of Australia's most recognised artists—and my friend—Charles Billich, and his wife, Christa, are great contributors not only to art but to the social and society part of life. However, the champagne fuelled parties at the Sydney gallery are neither a reflection of how Billich's life started nor a true measure of the battles he's still fighting.

At just 21 years of age in his homeland of Yugoslavia, with Tito's secret police hunting him, Billich was jailed for two years. Just three years later he travelled to Australia via Austria. However, when communism crumbled and Croatia was born, Billich returned to the town of his birth, Lovran, to celebrate and invest in its development. However, all was not as it seemed. After investing in a new gallery, renovating the space and filling it, the deal he believed existed—that it would be rent free for 10 years—was reneged upon, and his art collection was seized in lieu of payment. So began Billich's efforts to see the return of his artworks. He's always been prepared to pay for it, but he and Christa just want the works returned.

Thanks to the hard work and support of filmmaker and friend Steve Ravic, it looked like a resolution was in sight after at least 15 years. But it now looks like the municipality of Lovran and its mayor, Simonic, are reneging on a mutually amicable resolution that was in the process of being finalised. In fact, it now appears that those artworks are set to be auctioned. This continues to echo the shameful treatment that Charles Billich has endured for over 15 years while he has tried to resolve this matter, and the Municipality of Lovran has gotten away with manipulating the circumstances and deceitfully carrying out actions against Billich. I'd like to acknowledge Steve Ravik and the work that he has done, and we certainly hope that these artworks are returned to their rightful owner in the very near future.