No extra funding for Tarrkarri Aboriginal cultural centre in state budget

The future of an Aboriginal cultural centre on North Terrace is in doubt after this week’s state budget failed to allocate extra funding to the project.

Questions remain over the future of an Aboriginal cultural centre on North Terrace after this week’s state budget allocated no extra funding to the project.

There are now calls for the federal government or other parties to step in and ensure the gallery is not dumped altogether.

Construction on the Tarrkarri Centre at Lot Fourteen began in December 2021 under the former Liberal government but was frozen last year.

Labor was advised that to deliver the centre within its original $200m budget, the project would have required a significant reduction in scope and result in a centre only of a local, state-level standard – not the “centre of international significance” initially envisaged.

The future of the Tarrkarri centre is in question. Image: Lot Fourteen.

Following a subsequent review, Premier Peter Malinauskas said the true cost could be up to $600m and vowed he would hunt for funding “if the project goes ahead at all”.

Delivering the budget on Thursday, Treasurer Stephen Mullighan said there was no extra funding for Tarrkarri but the initial $200m provision had been retained.

“The government hasn’t made a decision yet what we’re doing about that,” he said.

“We’ve received the report from the expert panel that the Premier had set up, which, as the Premier has made clear, publicly recommends that if this project proceeds it needs to be a far bigger and far more expensive facility than what had been planned for and funded by the previous government.

“So as we work through that decision, we’ll work out whether we need to increase that amount of funding to deliver the project, or whether we’re not proceeding with the project.”

The federal government had contributed $85m towards the project under a “city deal”, with the state covering the remainder.

Adelaide Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith said any move to cancel the project would be “an enormous disappointment for First Nations people”. (The Advertiser/Morgan Sette)

Adelaide Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith said any move to cancel the project would be “an enormous disappointment for First Nations people who have contributed to the planning and design of this facility”.

“I would be surprised that a Labor government in Canberra and a Labor government in South Australia would not put funding into this project in the year of the referendum,” she said.

“I think that there are various ways to fund a project and I would encourage those potential sources to respond to the funding issues.”

Opposition arts and festivals spokesman John Gardner said such delays and cost blowouts were “typical of this Labor government”.

“The project was underway when they were elected,” he said.

“They’re the ones who halted, deferred, reviewed and now don’t know what to do.

“Given that the last time Labor was in power they tried to build 1000 apartments on the site, it’s small wonder that people are suspicious as to whether they’ll have another go this time round.”