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- 8 June 2005
Regional Conservatoriums of Music
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Page: 16631
The Hon. CATHERINE CUSACK [10.50 p.m.]: Our regional conservatoriums do a brilliant job. The Department of Education and Training [DET] administers $3.2 million funding for 15 regional conservatoriums with 15,000 students. About $200 per pupil subsidises their instruments, tuition, furniture, books, facilities, visiting artists, and performance and administration costs. Yesterday, the Minister for Education advised the Parliament of this program and claimed credit for resourcing and expanding our regional conservatoriums. But if, as the Minister told us yesterday, the Government is doing such a great job, why does the front page of today's Illawarra Mercury read:
Con's Cash Crisis: Cutting courses, axing staff, selling pianos. That's how our conservatorium of music plans to keep its doors open.
If the Government is doing such a great job, why is my local Northern Rivers conservatorium falling apart as a result of building negligence on the part of TAFE and experiencing a drop in student numbers as a result? If the funding is so generous, why has it been frozen since 2001 without even consumer price indexation, let alone additional funds to meet the cost of a 30 per cent increase in student enrolments? Is it really wise for the Minister to brag, given the parlous financial position our conservatoriums are in?
I appeal to the Minister about timing for the grants. The cheques for the current financial year, which began on 1 July 2004, were not distributed until November 2004, five months after the start of the financial year. The same was true for the 2003 financial year, although there was one notable exception: the Tamworth conservatorium received its cheque on 5 July 2003. This cheque appears to have arrived early because it was hand-delivered by Bob Carr on the occasion of his 2003 visit to Tamworth. This is why Tamworth, and only Tamworth, was able to get access to its 2003 grant five days into the financial year instead of having to wait the usual five months.
A further problem is the amount of red tape attached to the grants. Fifteen conservatoriums are sharing $3.2 million. How hard can it be? Very hard for DET, it seems. The letter to the conservatoriums, signed by former education Minister Andrew Refshauge, advising them of funding was dated 1 November 2004. This was only the advice; there was no cheque attached. It was only an offer of "core" funding with numerous sub-allocations and conditions attached. Halfway through the financial year, when "core" funding was finally approved, a 25-page contract written in 10 parts with four attachments was forwarded for signature. It is ridiculous red tape, considering the total cap on the grants is $175,000.
In 2003 hundreds of children from regional conservatoriums around the State came to Sydney to perform at a gala concert. It was a huge effort and a great thrill for the students and their families. The DET subsidy was $30,000, or about $40 per child. The subsidy paid for some of the staging costs in Sydney, and it was greatly appreciated. The costs of organisation and year-long preparation, travel, and accommodation were met by students, teachers and local communities. It was well worth the effort, and a decision was taken to make it an annual event. So in the lead-up to the concert on 2 May 2004 nearly a thousand talented country children were very excited. Accommodation was booked and the 12-month preparation was undertaken in earnest.
I emphasise this is a very professional undertaking requiring a huge and disciplined commitment from students and their teachers and it is an expensive undertaking for their families. So you can imagine how stunned and dismayed the regional conservatoriums were when, on Thursday 8 April—the last day of school term, the day before Good Friday, and just three weeks before the concert—DET telephoned the conservatoriums to tell them the concert would have to be cancelled. Why? Because DET was undergoing a restructure and could not guarantee that the $30,000 would be available.
DET had to make 15 phone calls to break this shattering news to 15 conservatoriums, but devastated staff at the conservatoriums had to make a thousand calls over Easter to break the news to children and their families, who had booked accommodation and arranged for friends and relatives to attend the concert in Sydney, and the teachers whose efforts counted for nothing in the DET decision to can the concert. Ultimately, five conservatoriums dug in and decided to go it alone, without DET. The Sydney conservatorium came to their rescue. Mr Mark Walton and Mr Peter McCallum made the famous Verbrugghen Hall at the conservatorium available at no cost. Did anybody from DET bother to attend the re-organised concert at the conservatorium? Did DET take the opportunity to hear and marvel at the work and achievements of these young music students? No, of course not. An advertisement for the re-organised concert was placed in the Sydney Morning Herald, and members of the public attended, as did the families and friends of these young students. The sad epilogue to this story is that there is no more funding for a Sydney concert for our regional conservatoriums. In spite of the obvious enthusiasm in the face of adversity, in spite of the focus and joy it gives the children and their teachers, DET just does not seem to get it.
Shame on those individuals whose mean spiritedness allowed such a shambles to happen. Shame on them for abusing their power over the children in this way. I caution the Minister not to brag about the Government's support for regional conservatoriums. I assume she is poorly advised and I hope she shares in my dismay at what has been allowed to happen. Instead, I urge the Minister to investigate the conduct of this program and to consult with the conservatoriums about how to progress them. The current situation is unsustainable, and our conservatoriums deserve far better than what is happening at present.
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