Arts Minister Andrea Michaels concedes she was briefed on the SA Museum restructure

The State Government has made a major admission about the contentious SA Museum restructure that has caused public outcry in recent months.

The State Government has admitted it had been formally briefed last year about the contentious SA Museum restructure and voiced no objection to the plan at the time. Picture: Tom Huntley

The state government has admitted it had been formally briefed last year about the contentious SA Museum restructure and voiced no objection to the plan at the time.

Arts Minister Andrea Michaels has conceded SA Museum kept her informed about its intention to redesign the museum, but said she was not aware of any plans to remove the much-loved World Mammals or Egyptian collections.

“Yes, I was briefed,” Ms Michaels told The Advertiser.

“There was no discussion about removing either the Egyptian or mammals exhibitions. Nor has there been a funding request.”

Arts Minister Andrea Michaels. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

The government raised no objections to make the 165-year-old institution more contemporary, after being briefed on the plan by the museum following its September board meeting.

Museum board minutes from September 27, obtained under Freedom of Information, showed the government and Department of Premier and Cabinet were aware of the restructure.

“The director outlined the key points of the strategic review and his recommendations for the proposed organisational restructure,” the minutes state.

“It was agreed that the paper would form the basis of a briefing document for meetings with the Minister, DPC and DTF to gain approval for the proposed restructure.”

It was not until the planned changes to the SA Museum caused a public outcry in April, with public demonstrations at Parliament House and threats from donors to withdraw funding that the government took action and announced a review of the changes.

The ‘Reimagining the Museum’ restructure had proposed 27 job losses in the research and collections team, to be replaced with 22 mostly lower-level positions.

Rally to save the SA Museum from a restructure. Picture: Kelly Barnes

In a press release, the Premier said: “There has been misinformation about the proposal for the Museum in the community, much of it peddled by the Opposition.

“There are no plans to get rid of the Egyptian Room or the Mammals Gallery, nor will the Repatriation of Ancestral Remains program stop.”

Dr Catherine Kemper, who represents a group which compiled an open letter with signatures from 350 prominent Australians opposing the restructure, said they had “little faith in the minister”.

“There seems to be a lack of understanding of the impacts of the restructure on the museum as a whole and the reaction of the South Australian public,” Dr Kemper said.

Opposition spokesman John Gardner believed there were a lot of Labor backbenchers who think they’d be able to do a better job than current ministers, including Ms Michaels.

“I think a lot of them were surprised the only new blood in the Cabinet reshuffle was Dan Creegan,” he said.

December board minutes also showed museum staff met with DPC deputy chief executive Alison Lloyd-Wright to discuss funding for the reform.

The Advertiser revealed this week Ms Lloyd-Wright had abruptly resigned from her relatively-new position, which officials deny was linked to the controversial museum restructure.