Powerhouse Museum
POWERHOUSE MUSEUM
Mr PHOTIOS: My question without notice is directed to the Attorney General, Minister for Consumer Affairs and Minister for Arts. Is the Minister aware of promotional material being run on Australian Broadcasting Corporation television for tonight's edition of "7.30 Report", claiming his involvement in the appointment of his personal staff at the Powerhouse Museum? Can the Minister provide honourable members with details of this appointment and the claims being made by the "7.30 Report"?
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Mr COLLINS: I thank the honourable member for Ermington for his question and I want to assure the House that the allegation is wholly scurrilous and without foundation. I understand it has come from a Ms Vanessa Eley, the former marketing manager of the Powerhouse, whose position was one of three abolished during a restructuring of the museum's organisation and management last year. I want to say at the outset I do not reflect adversely on Ms Eley's competence or her rights to argue her case publicly and on television, as she will do tonight, but I am compelled to correct errors in her assertion. Ms Eley has claimed that I influenced the museum to appoint my former press secretary, Jane de Teliga, to a senior position at the museum. I did not. The fact is that my former press secretary was already on the Powerhouse staff. She had been employed at the Powerhouse as a curator. She was seconded to my office for a year in 1990-91 to serve as my press secretary.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Smithfield to order for the second time.
Mr COLLINS: She returned to the Powerhouse at the request of the director -
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Ermington to order.
Mr COLLINS: - who asked for her return in a letter to me of 26th November last year. She returned to her original position at her original classification of Curator Grade 2. Upon her return, the director asked her to assist him in certain duties relating to promotional, marketing and sponsorship matters. She has been carrying out those duties. She was not appointed to any new position at the museum. I am advised that no new position relating to these duties exists or has been created to date. I would only add that, to my knowledge, Ms de Teliga's work, both in my office and at the museum, has been entirely satisfactory. Her employment -
[Interruption]
That got a couple of sniggers from some members of the Opposition, who do not understand who I am talking about. A number of members of the Opposition do know the person I am speaking about and know that she is one of the most highly regarded museum professionals in Sydney. Indeed, she was the person behind the Australian fashion exhibition which was on display at the Powerhouse Museum a couple of years ago. She received an invitation to display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and also, through the Department of Foreign Affairs, in Tokyo and Seoul as part of the Seoul Olympics. I never influenced or sought to involve myself in appointments at the museum, or in the duties carried out by members of staff. Except in respect of the appointment of chief executive officers, I do not involve myself in individual staffing matters.
When Ms Eley and her family persisted in allegations of malpractice and illegality against the Director of the Powerhouse Museum - and when the honourable member for the South Coast made representations on behalf of Ms Eley - the Secretary of the Ministry for the Arts closely examined the history of the matter and questioned the director at length. All the issues were examined in consultation with a senior officer of the Office of Public Management of the Premier's Department. The secretary concluded that, at all times, the director had acted within his delegated authority and in accordance with all relevant provisions of the Public Sector Management Act, and that no illegality or malpractice had occurred at any time. Last night the "7.30 Report" ran a promotion of a story that it presumably intends to show tonight which said that from the Powerhouse
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Museum to the Minister in charge there is no public comment. I cannot be any more public than I have been. My comments have been placed on the public record. Also I have indicated to the "7.30 Report" my availability and the availability of the Director of the Powerhouse Museum to appear on the program tonight, both of which have been declined.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Burrinjuck to order.
Mr COLLINS: I look forward to viewing the "7.30 Report" show tonight. For the information of honourable members, at the conclusion of my answer I will lay upon the table a letter from the secretary of the ministry to Ms Eley dated 12th March setting out the ministry's conclusions; a letter of 26th November from me to the Director of the Powerhouse Museum requesting Ms De Teliga's return to that institution; a letter from Ms Eley to me of 24th October; and my reply to Ms Eley of 13th November, making it clear that it is not my practice to involve myself in staff appointments at the institution. On 13th November in response to a letter from Ms Eley I underscored my policy as Minister and emphasised that I will not interfere in staff appointments. The relevant paragraph of the letter reads:
For your information, I did not intervene or in any way seek to influence an appointment to a senior Powerhouse position for which my brother-in-law was shortlisted. I therefore have no intention whatever of reversing my arms-length policy on management and staff appointment decisions.
I did not intervene in any way in relation to my brother-in-law's appointment to a senior position at the Powerhouse Museum a couple of years ago. My brother-in-law is a well-qualified museum expert who recently enjoyed a scholarship to the historic site at Williamsburg in the United States of America. I did not in any way intervene on his behalf, nor will I intervene on behalf of anyone else be they staff, former staff, party member or any other person. I assure the House that this matter has been handled appropriately. It is an industrial matter and the trust of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences has every right to determine who will be appointed and every right to determine the structure of the staff. I reserve my right to have a say about chief executive officers of arts institutions, and the head of the arts ministry. So far as other staff positions are concerned, I will leave that for the appropriate staff procedures to be followed. I thank the honourable member for Ermington for his question and for his long-standing interest in arts issues.