NSW Labor announces promise to save the Powerhouse Museum

By ERIN MODARO

Just days ahead of the state election, NSW Labor have announced their commitment to saving the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo, opposing the Liberal government’s $500 million refurbishment of the STEM institution in its current form.

Shadow Minister for Arts John Graham, Labor candidate for Sydney Skye Tito and Labor candidate for Balmain Philippa Scott announced Labor’s position on the museum upgrades at a meeting out front of the museum today.

In a statement, NSW Labor affirmed their commitment to providing Ultimo with a world-class museum, and said that they support investment into the Ultimo site.

However, Labor said they hold concerns over the shift in focus from a science and engineering museum to what will essentially be an event space with a fashion and design focus; a sentiment that is echoed by a multitude of museum advocates since the conception for the new museum was announced.

“NSW Labor remains concerned about the focus on event rather than museum spaces in the Government’s plans,” the statement reads.

“This reflects the Government’s obsession with commercialisation and privatisation.”

In addition to a shift in focus, Labor said the current government has kept “key details” of the museum upgrades a secret.

“A NSW Labor government will release key details of the plans for the Ultimo and Parramatta sites that until now have been kept secret.”

Labor’s opposition brewing since last year

Rumours about Labor’s stance against the upgrades to the museum in their current form spread last year when the Pyrmont/Ultimo Labor branch reportedly moved a motion regarding the museum. The motion called upon Opposition Leader Chris Minns and Shadow Arts Minister John Graham to institute a review and reversal of the “decisions leading to the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo being dismantled”, as well as a call to retain the museum’s historical context as a science and engineering institution. 

More recently, Labor candidate for Sydney Skye Tito came out in opposition to the plans, in a response to a manifesto document by community group Friends of Ultimo from a candidate forum.

Tito said that Labor will “fight to restore the MAAS and to retain the integrity of museum status”.

“The NSW Government has not released the details of the contracts signed for the Ultimo
redevelopment proposal,” she said.

Tito said Labor’s plan to save the museum will come once the party can “become aware of legal parameters”.

In December last year the final designs for the new Powerhouse were unveiled. The new design, which was selected via an architecture competition, features a new rooftop garden, boarding houses for school children, and will demolish the Wran building which currently houses the entrance to the museum.

Key players in the Powerhouse’s past have come out in vocal opposition to the Liberal government’s changes to the Powerhouse, critiquing a move towards a fashion and design focus over its original STEM foundations. Government secrecy and a lack of genuine community consultation has also been a key point of concern.

Former trustee Kylie Winkworth, the architect of the 1988 adaptation Lionel Glendenning, and former Powerhouse Museum Director Jennifer Saunders all came out in opposition to the unveiled designs.