worldSILLYweek is here AGAIN

 

CLICK TO VISIT THE WEBSITE

Thanks to the good sense of funding authorities this festival went underground as a ‘do it yourself festival’ that lets you transgress and if necessary, piss f•••witz off. And there is no shortage of them, so there is much to do in this festival.

It seems to me, blow in that I am, that worldSILLYweek is a sort of ‘Claytons Festival’, the one you have when you are not really having one – and nothing to do with pisstakin in public. It is a complicated idea and dare I say so it, its a rather silly one too. Transgress, and if necessary, 'pissin f•••witz off' a day for 11 days would be a civic service. And there is no shortage of them, so again you would think that there is much to do in this festival. 

In all my travels in Europe, Africa and Asia I been places where and when there is a ‘festival’ to celebrate or commemorate some culturally significant person or happening or something weird. What could be more silly than the Spanish “La Tomatina Festival” or Hungary’s Busójárás, Mohács, or the Spanish Baby Jumping Festival. And, Belinerz, well they really know how to be silly year round with silly ART everywhere all the time. 

And then there is Tunisia's International Festival of the Sahara that celebrates the rich culture of the Sahara Desert. If you can celebrate a geographic desert in a desert why not give it a go in a cultural desert?

Launceston really does need to take this festival onto the streets and out from hiding. There is so very much pisssssss to be taken it’s a crying shame not to take it. Actually, it all needs to be bottled. Now there’s an idea, LAUNCESTON PISS BOTTLING FESTIVAL. Oh my goodness David Walsh will grab that one and run with it while the GOOD BURGERS OF LAUNCESTON sit around asking if they’ll be invited to the party ... or to donate. 

Someone will need to explain that to them and transgress by pissin f•••witz off someone who needs a sense of humour implanted somewhere. And there is no shortage of them, f•••witz that is, so again there is much to do in this festival. 

And thinking about it, during their meetings the GOOD BURGERS do extraordinarily weird things for extraordinary reasons and so much so as their urine would bring an extraordinary price on the international art market.

In the time that I’ve been in Tasmania I’ve been struck by people’s inability to let go and celebrate. Dark MoFo is on the cusp of falling into a hole and I think that is not to do with COVID-19. It’s actually to do with Tasmanians inability the explore, really explore, something less than, or is it more than, an ordinary idea. OUTCOME MEDIOCRITY! 

But there is that mid-winter nude swim in Hobart. AND breakin NEWS, Launceston is, I have heard, weeeelllll ... going to have a NONnude swim that is nothing to do with worldSILLYweek. I rest my case your honour.

Dark MoFo may well join worldSILLYweek as a DIY underground thingo ... something less than a festival. Even then I wonder if Tasmanians, and especially Launcestonians, have the wit to celebrate anything, or in this case transgressively in the local lingo, do anything like ‘takindarBLOODYpizz’, and I mean really transgress and piss f•••witz off. 

Me, I’m watching the space from the sidelines to see what happens and it’ll be educational.

Dr Luther

THIS IS HOW ONE GROWS THE BUREAUCRATIC PIE AND MORE STILL

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The end ink was barely dry and the paper was not long over the fence on Saturday June 12 when that network of concerned ‘citizens and ratepayers’ spotted the prospect of yet another massive rates grab by Town Hall being reported – and on the quiet. All around town they were choking on their toast, cornflakes, muesli or whatever they break their fast with while reading the weekend papers. 

This cash grab is to compensate for past incompetence and mismanagement and it is so transparent. The ‘decision’ has already been made in camera at one of those shonky workshops well away from the glare of public scrutiny. 

Quite frankly, it is clear to see that 'the die has been cast' and that this decision is irrevocable and only needs the formal tick of approval in open council on Thursday. It's a done deal!

Just wait and see, Cr. Soward will move his motion and someone innocuous will enthusiastically support it and bingo without further debate or discussion the decision is ratified and the city’s ratepayers are in even more peril than last week. 

This council takes the biscuit and as likely as not everyone around the table will see themselves as taking the prize – and bugger the ratepayers. Irrevocable as all this is, and only needing the formal tick of approval in open council on Thursday there is smugness all round. So, where is the accountability and transparency Premier Gutwein once touted as Minister for Local Govt.?

Basil Fitch was very quickly working the phones as it took nano seconds for him to see through this fiscal stunt. Ex-Alderman Fitch knows where the bodies are buried and he has been around the block more than once. Even from his supposed ‘retirement’ on the hill overlooking Launceston he takes more than a passing interest in what goes on at Town Hall. 

Mostly, he is not amused and he is often bemused as are many others. Town Hall typically dismisses his dissension as “oh dear it is just Basil again” inferring that he has past his use-by-date. If there is any doubt oh about whether or not Basil has ‘lost it’ or not see his Facebook journal! 

To be sure, Ex-Alderman Fitch has forgotten more than the likes of Cr. Soward ever knew even if it seems that Cr. Soward is suffering from the symptoms of the creeping irrelevance complex while pondering a tilt at the mayoral throne next year. 

Cutting to the chase, just what does Basil see here? He says that basically:

 

1. Council is seeking to shift the CBD’s landlords’ CityProm load away from them and right onto all ratepayers to help the landlords out. No hint of what benefits the ratepayers generally will have, or in fact have ever had, from the existence of CityProm. Will the Brisbane St. barons pass on their savings to their tenants? For more see Basil’s Facebook journal! 

2. It is not for nothing that Town Hall is doing this now given that the incumbents have got themselves, and the city, so heavily in debt. At the last count it looked like $32.5Million mostly generated by budget overruns and ‘fix ups’ as the councillors one and all looked away and they pretty much 'stay stum'. Also, there is the 'Helicopter Money', in the Millions, flown in from the State Govt. to save Town Hall from itself innrecent years. 

3. Ratepayers are being regarded as ‘milch cows’ well and able to pay for whenever  mistake has been made. No thought whatsoever for the increasing number of home owners facing ‘mortgage stress’ with Tasmania front and centre of this crisis. In Launceston, that level of stress is experienced by 52% of homeowners – ratepayers each and every one. 

4. Basil is adamant that now is the time for this council to be sacked and for a commissioner to be appointed to save ratepayers from the looming fiscal disaster. If Launceston is allowed to fail financially, all Tasmania’s taxpayers will need to foot the bill as the debt will be far too large for ratepayers to cope with it alone. Importantly, the 'elected councillors' have abdicated and basically they have handed all power to the city manager (AKA the CEO/GM) – who by the way is paid more than the Premier. This cannot go on! 

Over the top of this ratepayers are going to be slugged with a 4.5%/5% rate rise with every prospect of that being escalated by a further 5% beyond that further compounding ratepayers' fiscal distress. And, then there is the prospect of rates being increased as a consequence of rising, or is that escalating, property prices in the city. Council is handing its hexed ratepayers 'a bit of a raw deal'.

Then there is the ratepayers' association cum network, members of which, also choked on their 'freakin cornflakes' while reading the paper – see their first quick response here. What this network is saying is that Council should hold a plebiscite on the issue at the next local government elections or, if ‘accountability‘ is an issue, more immediately, and strategically, put the wheels in motion for a Citizen's Assembly/Jury to be empanelled.

Any notion that an 'independent expert consultant' can be found for $20K is fanciful nonsense. The word is that their 'fees' generally start at about at $50/60K – so put that fiscal folly to one side.  

Ex-Alderman Ian Routley, a Launceston businessman and a founding father of CityProm, points out that when it was formed, well before he was elected to council, it was not intended to do what it now does – or be like it is now. Like so many others he finds the council’s intentions quite, quite inappropriate. 

Against this background there is a very good case for disbanding CityProm. If it is serving any functional purpose at all it should be the city’s traders who fund it so as that it is accountable to them directly – not the council or by extension ratepayers. The Launceston Chamber of Commerce is an obvious mechanism via which this could be achieved – not the council, it’s actually not their business. 

Even if it is a much softer approach than Basil Fitch would take, a  plebiscite or Citizen's Jury is not the kind of thing Mayor van Zetten is likely to endorse. He has repeatedly rejected any such thing in open council when pressed on such things. 

Nonetheless, looking around, if the State Govt. were to sack this council there would be no tears and a huge sigh of relief throughout the municipality – save for perhaps a few who rely upon the largesse of the incumbents. Basically, the status quo is toxic and its persistence is too terrible to contemplate. 

SECTION 20 of the current Local Government Act 1993 (LGA 1993) is rarely thought about around the council table. This component of the Act describes the role and purpose of councils: 

•  Firstly, to provide for the health, safety and welfare of the community; and then 

• To represent the interests of the community; and then 

• To provide for the peace, order and good government of the municipal area. 

By any measure, there are strong arguments to suggest that this council in Launceston in 2021 is not compliant with the Act.

Cultural researcher Ray Norman says that this situation is a “cultural matter” that is pretty much a hangover from the city’s reluctance to throw off its colonial legacy. He says that as a ‘blow in’ with 30 years plus as a 'Lonnie ratepayer', “looking on from the inside the community all kinds of schisms seem to be at work”. And he also says that “the city’s governance is in essence antithetic to the expectations and aspirations of a great many residents and especially those from elsewhere”. 

Ray Norman came to Launceston to lecture at the TSIT School of Art – now UTas – and since1995 he has been an independent cultural producer and researcher. A large part of his research has been focused upon the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery (QVMAG) and especially its governance. He says that “given that this institution is owned and operated by the City of Launceston council it turns out that it is a fraction that represents the whole”. He goes further to say “over the past decade and increasingly in recent years the QVMAG has been poorly served by the council which has by and large abdicated its stewardship of the institution leaving important decision making and its strategic development to management” ... and thus " walking into this place now is like entering the ruins of a defiled cathedral of ideas".

In regard to this current move by the council, Ray Norman says that “while it not a surprise that the council would be doing this, or want to, doing it now and under current circumstances must be considered as very concerning”.

Entrepreneur Elon Musk, one of the world's richest people and innovator extraordinaire, has observed that "some people don't like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster". Quite probably Launceston's hapless ratepayers are witnessing dysfunctional local governance and as the clock ticks they are hiding under the doona just waiting for the bang. 

The status quo is no longer an option and as Ronald Regan once observed "the status quo is quite simply Latin for the mess we are in". Interestingly, this was at about the time he was in Berlin imploring Mikhail Gorbachev "to tear down this wall"  – a turning point in world history and somewhat serendipitously that was June 12, 1987.

 Doreen Bowen

Sub-editor & Content Manger for kTF

PLEASE NOTE: Council's meeting on Thursday June 17 

is on the eve of worldSILLYweek 2021

LINK

LINK

A RN GLEANING #2

When trying to understand how cities work – how they develop over time and how their social lives have come into existence – urbanists often look at infrastructure. Looking closely at the roads, railways, sewers, electricity lines and rivers that run through a place can often uncover some essential truths. For example, how can we think about Los Angeles without thinking about the design, construction and ongoing use of its highways? It seems obvious, but only when you actively look. Most of the time, infrastructure is invisible.  

We can think of mockups in graphic design in a similar way. The mockup is a fundamental part of the graphic designer’s toolkit. Producing samples and prototypes for clients is an essential part of the working process, and has been for as long as graphic design has been a thing. They are so ubiquitous they seem to hardly warrant any further thought, which is precisely why we should look closer..... CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

 

TOWN HALL NOT LEADING THE WAY ACTUALLY

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All over the world artists and performers are being asked to volunteer their time and skills to some good cause or another. It is a kind of slavery! Now in Launceston its councillors get paid what seems to be a reasonably generous allowance for their time doing their civil service but they expect artists not only give up their time, and give away the benefits of their hard won expertise, but bear all the costs of doing so. 

Among the quirky vernacular 'ockerisms' I've come across is the one that goes "do not come the raw prawn with me" and it seems to fit like a glove here if that is not too many cliche's in one sentence. It is about time that councillors, took a few lessons in empathy and checked their their moral compass in to be serviced. That is so especially for the ones who sit in meetings saying nothing, who reputedly do not take calls from their constituents but nonetheless turn up to get their attendance money.

It is legend that bad taste creates many more millionaires than good taste – well mostly. The story goes that a little bad taste is like a nice dash of whisky and cream in your coffee. It's bad taste to be wise all the time, like being at every idiot's funeral dressed to the nines. What is really exhilarating in bad taste is the aristocratic pleasure of giving offence and getting away with it.

At the meeting that council took the decision to yet again rip off artists – there is no other way to put it – the city's ratepayers made a submission to The City's Good Burgers basically asking them to consider paying these 'advisers' a sitting fee and expenses. Click here to read the ratepayers response and see below for the submission.

Culturally this council does seem to be overly endowed with dilettantes and philistines unable to deliver on the expectations of a culturally aware community and what seems to be an increasingly diverse, and increasingly sensitive, community. But what would I know – blow in and interloper that I am.

To borrow heavily from Dr Vale's words and digging about ... "Manfred Rommel prominent German and influential municipal politician speaking of Adolf Hitler said "of course, Hitler was a dilettante, but he was a completely amoral person. Yes, he had no morals at all" In his words, these words, there is something to ponder upon even the 21st Century  – even in Launceston."

The rift between the thinking people that one generally finds oneself among when you blow in from village life into Tasmania and discover the 'political class', well it is edifying. With a dusty rucksack looking to hide from COVID well away from American disfunction, Tasmania looked like a good and safe option. Now I'm learning that the Internet is a necessity.

My guess is that this council will find people to fill its committee. The willing will do their best and when they find that they are frustrated and misunderstood they will have to wonder where all this is going and why they imagined they could make a difference. You see, we tend not to value what we do not pay for.

It's interesting when you 'blow in' and learn about someone you should have known about but didn't – well maybe I might have but it just didn't register. Right here, and right now knowing about Joseph Beuys somehow makes sense. However, spending time with his legacy might tell us a great deal and cause us to rethink a few things.

Every day an elephant doesn’t step on your head, it is your lucky day. Your days do not have to be perfect but they do need be lucky ones. However, you do not need to know if it’s good or bad until you have some perspective. We can try to perceive everything as a good luck, then our lives will change for the better ... possibly.

Luther Blissett 2021

... 

TASMANIAN RATEPAYERS' SUBMISSION CoL MAY 2021

The 'City of Launceston has announced yet another 'committee' ostensibly to provide the council, presumably the elected representatives, with advice on cultural matters. At face value this appears to be a very positive move on council's behalf. 

Nonetheless, if it is to be as other council committees are, it will be yet another committee that appears as if it is achieving something but not by necessity. They may provide council with advice but somehow they appear to be stifled in their ability to do so. 

Typically such committees are set up to:

• Primarily, to provide 'council and councillors' with advice; and

• Secondarily, to provide 'council management' with auxiliary 'information provided by an expert/s' in order that a GM can satisfy SECTION 65 of the Local Govt Act 1993 .

The base 'assumption' being that neither 'councillors nor management' have automatic access to appropriate advice in their decision making.

This being the case it seems that with the establishment of 'this committee' it is timely to address the administrative processes that currently impact negatively upon: 

•  The relevance of such committees' contribution to 'better governance'; and 

 •  The delivery of better outcomes for ratepayers.

It has been stated in the press that the council is seeking to 

" attract practising artists or industry professionals who have a thorough understanding of the issues and challenges experienced by community-based arts and cultural groups and organisations". 

The underlying implication here is that these people – cultural experts, cultural producers, heritage experts, et al – are being called upon to provide 'professional advice'. If not, why call upon them to offer council the benefit of their professional experience and expertise.  

Despite being typically the least able members community to 'freely' volunteer their time, experience and expertise these people are apparently being called upon to yet again to 'volunteer' their time, and their expertise, and their hard won experience 'without a reward of any kind'. 

If that is not what is on offer here, then what is? Is this committee to be populated with dilettantes able to give freely of their time for that euphemistic "warm and fuzzy feeling"? If it is why bother?

Interestingly, those with established networks in the community are being called upon yet again to volunteer their experience and expertise on the assumption that they and/or their employers and communities,  are well enough endowed to be able to give freely of their time and hard won experience. And, all that at the expense of income opportunities quite often.

Interestingly, council is unlikely to set up a committee of engineers, trades people, whatever, without offering some kind of 'reward'. In reality, it would be contentious if they did, given that few would take up the 'flattering offer' without some kind of remuneration – sometimes euphemistically called a 'backhand kick back' or 'first bite of the cherry' arrangement.

Typically the people who offer their free advice are those who have no use for that advice themselves anyway. As the proverbs say "free advice is worth exactly what you have just paid for it". None of us are likely to accept free specialist medical advice from a enthusiastic health dilettante and trust it implicitly. So why should we – council or ratepayers – expect to trust free advice on cultural matters – if it actually matters at all.

Against this background, now might well be the time to 'seriously reconsider' the circumstance under which 'expert council committees' are established. 

Ratepayers are all too aware of the fees paid to 'independent experts' for advice to satisfy SECTION 65 of the Act. If these 'committees' are offering 'expert advice' their membership needs to be treated with the kind of respect other experts are given and deserve.

On the other hand, if council is 'not seeking independent advice' – frank and free advice – why go through the pointless charade of inconsequential 'window dressing' while using up the resources of people with 'cultural expertise'? 

Why not reward the delivery of free and frank advice, if it is in fact 'expert advice'?  Why expose professionals to the distain of non-experts making adverse decisions and determinations about their expertise?

If the answer is 'let's flatter them' and do what we want to whatever, that would be totally cynical exercise not worthy of a representative and accountable 'council'.

Against this background it is recommended that:

1.  In setting up any committee of the kind indicated in the press, ratepayers and other interested people be invited to nominate candidates setting out their relevant expertise and experience. Also, it is recommended that candidates from locations beyond the Municipality of Launceston be sought in order that the most appropriate candidates be available for eventual appointment.

2.  In setting up any committee of the kind indicated,  it is recommended that nominations be sought for an independent person to take up the position of Chairperson; and

• That she/he be provided with an unambiguous Charter for the committee that; 
• Clearly sets out the committee's purpose; and
• Clearly articulates the committee's objectives; and
• Clearly within the objectives provide an item that addresses Aboriginal, natural and built heritage; and
• Clearly informs the committee members of Council's rationale for establishing the committee; and that
• Sets out the scope of the Chairperson's authority and tenure; and
• Provides for an appropriate Chairpersons' Allowance.

 3.  Any committee of the kind indicated, all councillors and council staff serve on the committee ex-officio without the benefit of any additional payment. Moreover, a council officer be assigned to provide appropriate secretarial services in support of the Chairperson.

 4.  Any committee of the kind indicated, all non-councillors serving on the committee will be 'directly accountable' to council's elected representatives and remunerated for their services via:

• An appropriate  sitting fee; 
• An appropriate Chairpersons allowance;
• Approved travel expenses when and where required; and 
• All other approved out-of-pocket expenses. ... See this link

 5.  Any committee of the kind indicated, the Chairperson will be the committee's 'designated spokesperson' and all communications from the committee will be channeled directly through the Chairperson to Council and other bodies when and where appropriate. Moreover, all councillors may attend meeting as 'observers' in order that they may gain better understandings' of the committee's advice and work.

 6.  Any committee of the kind indicated, will report openly, and on the record, to council at its regular meetings, following its own meetings, and in regard to advice it is offering to council – and by extension council staff, ratepayers and the wider community.

A RN GLEANING #1

 

Every now and then you stumble upon a pearl of wisdom. When I saw this I was reminded of so, so dissertations where none of these things were being discussed and the speaker/writer was demanding that you pay attention to them.

Most were politicians and the most extreme were those speaking from very tiny platforms. One could go on, but that'd be joining them in their irrelevance.

NEW BLOOD ON LAUNCESTON'S COUNCIL

 

The wait for former councillor Janie Finlay's replacement at City of Launceston Council is over with the Tasmanian Electoral Commission announcing Krista Preece as the winner of the recount. ............... Ms Preece contested the 2014 and 2018 council elections, but will now serve until the 2022 election after her victory. ............... Preece was 25th in the 2018 election with 1.2 per cent of the primary vote, below eight of the candidates she defeated in the recount. ............... Former councillor Simon Wood was second in the recount. ............... Ms Preece works at the Launceston General Hospital and has been an active community member through her work with Rotary Club. ............... Previously, she has served as the South Launceston Rotary Club president and is now serving as an assistant governor for Rotary Tasmania. ............... During past election campaigns, Ms Preece has advocated for small business support, improved street parking and developing the Launceston CBD and outer suburbs. ............... Launceston mayor Albert van Zetten welcomed Ms Preece's appointment to the council. ............... "I want to congratulate Krista Preece on her election to the City of Launceston, and look forward to the skills, knowledge and expertise she will bring to the Council table," he said. ............... "I have no doubt Krista will bring new perspectives and ideas to the table, and it's exciting to see another female elected to the City of Launceston." ............... Former councillor Simon Wood, Bob Salt, Bruce Potter and Matthew Bowen were all part of the recount. ............... Ms Finlay vacated her position at the council last month after being elected as a Labor member for Bass at the recent state election. ............... The vacancy triggered the need for a recount with the TEC writing to all unsuccessful nominees from the 2018 council election for nominations.

COMMENT: With Local Govt. elections next year Ms Preece's election and with a new dynamic on Launceston's council ratepayers and residents should be looking to encourage a whole range of new candidates in the light of this current incumbents' rather shabby performance. .... Dr T Vale 

Richard Barton Gleaning #1

This story speaks volumes about where Launceston is at right now!  ... LB

Despite the investigations, the exposes and the Tune report, there remains a mystery around the genuinely shocking neglect by and of the Australian National Archives (NA). As news reports have made clear, the archives appears to have allowed itself to approach a “digital cliff” in which large amounts of material in the form of old tapes, film and the like are hitting the point at which they dissolve into their elements. .............. The report by David Tune on the NA’s woes put forward a figure of $67 million required to catch the place up to its digitisation and preservation requirements. In the most recent budget, the government gave it nothing for this — zip, zero. This despite the fact that more public-facing institutions such as the National Library all got specific new allocations. ............. How did it get to this state? ............. None of the reports have been able to give us an answer. It doesn’t appear to be a political punishment; the NA is run by an ex-ASIO spook, who spent far too much money and time trying to block the release of the John Kerr-Buckingham Palace letters from public view. Quite possibly, it’s the opposite.  ............. The NA leadership was unwilling to give the government problems it doesn’t need, and so didn’t advocate for itself.READ MORE HERE

A nation without history, the poet A.D. Hope called us, but he didn't intend it as a programmatic statement. Coalition governments have fixed that.

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.

Desmond Tutu

A Regional Cultural Institution in Crisis

HOME PAGE ... https://qvmag2021.blogspot.com/
CONTEXT ... https://qvmag2021.blogspot.com/p/review-context.html
GOVERNACE ... https://qvmag2021.blogspot.com/p/governance-options.html 

Arriving somewhere that is to be 'home' for a while, maybe, a long while, places like the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery (QVMAG) offer great promise in the 21st C. If you are hungry for history, or you are trying to get a fix on a place, the local museum is usually an OK place to go. 

In my case, the QVMAG's reputation that preceded my 'translocation', my first visit and the reality of being there, it is hard not to feel that this place is on some sort of downhill slide. It might even be a slippery slope? The reasons for it being so are quite probably to do with a whole lot of factors with COVID-19 being but one no doubt.

The LCC network's review obviously comes with a lot of history and the perspective that talks about "the paucity of governance" is worth a think. However, the atmosphere of antagonism that one is confronted with when "the QVMAG" comes up in conversation with ex-staffers is just a little alarming. It becomes more so when it's an ex-staff is antagonistic and in some cases prone to expound conspiracy theories. This is not healthy! This is bad people management!

In a 130 years this somewhat iconic institution has built what is reputed to be one of Australia's important 'cultural collections' and one that is reputedly valued at something like $230Million. A great many people have a great deal invested in the QVMAG and its collections. When one telephones the city council you are told that the council "proudly owns and operates" this museum. Should this cohort of councillors be proud of their work? I do not think so.

For people who think and read about this kind of thing they might have come across a story about America's  Detroit museum selling off its art in 2014 to get out of a financial hole. The story goes that not too long ago a General Manager in Launceston entertained that sort of thing but back then was put off by the prospect of community outrage. 

Interestingly, Launceston is in 'financial hole' right now. Basil Fitch, a longtime 'council watcher and critic', and ex-councillor, estimates that the City of Launceston is: 

• $32Million in debt and the prospect of it growing significantly must be considered as a looming threat; and
• That this debt transferred to the people of Launceston equals a $1K plus debt for each and every household and business premise in the city; and that
• Ratepayers' face a 4% general rate increase 2021; and that
• Fees and charges are likely to grow to an even greater extent consequent to executive salary demands and rampant bureaucracy growth; and that
• Consequent to all this, the threat of compounding and exponential rate rises for a decade ahead is a real prospect; and that
• Additional to all that, there is the very real prospect of general rate increases as a consequence of 'extraordinary property value creep' given current market circumstances. 

Some ratepayers may be able to accommodated the consequences of the city's burgeoning financial crisis and the changes at work in the Australian'Tasmanian economy, but so many will not. The ability to do so is largely dependent upon the social outcomes and the 'value' delivered upon by Council and councillors.

Against the debt background that the current cohort of councillors have contributed to in a very real way, most likely they would probably look away if any community asset was sold off if it could be achieved under the cover of administrative shadows and the commercial in confidence mantra. Likewise, if the assets were 'intangible cultural treasures' or 'irreplaceable scientific specimens', given their track record they would be equally likely to look away and be beastly careless in the end. Their legacy already looms over the city and it is already etched into its history.

When one digs deep into the QVMAG's institutional status one finds that over the years, Ray Norman's description of the QVMAG as a 'cost centre'  – AKA financial sinkholes – has certainly stifled this museum's ability to change and adapt to the 21st C context. In the way museums like it all over the world have changed – and had to – this one stands out as an exemplar of what 19th C museums used to be like. 

Launceston's Council, on the evidence, is populated with yesterday's people. The Council's administrative hierarchy has no idea, it seems, about what kind of people museums need to 'care for' cultural collections or indeed any idea about the 'value' invested in the collections. Unlike, regional museums and art galleries elsewhere in Australia, and elsewhere per se, the institution is not governed well away from their funding bodies – here the City of Launceston – with expert 'Trustees' at the helm accountable to their 'patrons'. 

In France Launceston's councillors would surely be seen as members of the 'petite bourgeoisie' and as dilettante. One learns quite quickly in Australia that in the vernacular there are less kind characterisations in the lexicon. In the Royal Wootton Bassett Academy in the village of my childhood there are similar 'put downs' shared around dinner tables and the like. 

Somewhat extraordinarily, Launceston's ratepayers invest annually in the institution and for the most part they do so willingly if not always knowingly. The bitter pill here is that, talking to ratepayers, friends of the institution, et al, the institution each year, is in recent years, falling away. These people are saying that despite their rather generous funding the QVMAG has been delivering less and less. The community's legitimate expectations seem to be given scant regard. And, that is with some ratepayers apparently contributing to a hidden levy in the order of almost 10% of their rate demand. In crisis terms this seems to be just the tip of the iceberg!

The unsolicited review assembled by the Concerned Citizen's Network, and linked to here, delves into the issues impacting upon the QVMAG's performance and it offers some strategic options for a way forward in regard to the institution's governance, management and funding. As a blow-in, and a Johny-come-lately sniffing around, it seems that the likelihood of the Good Burgers of Launceston being in anyway influenced by the review looks to be highly unlikely – and it shares all the prospects of a snowflake in hell by all accounts.   

The review draws on decades of focused research carried out by Ray Norman [1]-[2] and it is well known that he in particular has been lent a deaf ear. The Concerned Citizen's Network review delves into the issues impacting upon the institution's performance and it offers some options for a way forward for the institution's governance, management and funding. However, it seems that, collectively, the people who have been entrusted with an enormous number of cultural assets have abdicated that trust. They have gone AWOL, not to put too fine a point on it. 

Listening to anecdotal reports and rumours from 'QVMAG people', one will hear:

• That the recently departed, and somewhat newish Director was probably encouraged to apply for alternative employment;

• There has been a steady exit of key staff members like conservators, preparators, science collection managers and curators et al over time;

• That the manager of knowledge and content has, or is about to, resign; and

• That the place is a hollow version of its former self.

If this does not alarm a community that has been investing cash, cultural treasures and their histories in a place one has to seriously consider what might, that is short of self-immolation.

On its current administrative trajectory the QVMAG runs a real risk that it may well need to close its doors and and have its collections dispersed. How can ratepayers, or taxpayers for that matter, keep on paying to maintain an institution that shows all the symptoms of rudderless-ness and purposeless-ness for a minute longer? 

If you are a blow-in from another world, and you see an institution that has arrived at point where its future is dimming unless there is real change it is time to ring the fire bell perhaps.

Two decades into the 21st Century at the time of an institution's 130th Anniversary, and with all that has gone before, and what now seems plain to see, somehow ringing the alarm seems to be at the same time, a bit audacious, rude even, and quite probably pointless looking in from the sidelines as blow-ins do.

Luther Blissett 2021