Powerhouse: Labor still wants to keep museum near CBD
A 30,000-piece fashion and creative industries art collection will remain at Ultimo under the state government’s plans to shift the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta.
Confidential
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A 30,000-piece fashion and creative industries art collection will remain at Ultimo under the state government’s plans to shift the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta.
The Saturday Telegraph has learnt key details of the favoured plan, which is yet to be signed off by Cabinet, as Labor ramps up its attempts to block the museum’s relocation.
Government insiders see maintaining an Ultimo exhibition as a nod to inner west groups who have opposed the Powerhouse plan.
The government has previously flagged there may be some arts presence retained there but there has been no detail until now.
The Telegraph understands the museum’s relocation will be driven by a “west has the best” ethos, and will develop the Powerhouse into a “better” facility with a science/technology and flight focus.
In his most bizarre comments to date, Labor Leader Luke Foley — a Western Sydney MP himself — declared yesterday that “not one person” in his electorate has ever told him “they want a bit of the Powerhouse in Parramatta”.
But Parramatta Lord Mayor Andrew Wilson hit back, saying that’s “an odd statement by the man who is trying to represent them”.
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He added that Mr Foley’s voters “weren’t stupid” and would know it was “ridiculous to argue against a major investment in the west”.
The government’s favoured plan also proposes a major expansion of the Powerhouse’s Museum Discovery Centre — which is open to the public for browsing — at Castle Hill.
The Telegraph understands the business cases for the relocation to the banks of the Parramatta River have taken advice from hydrology experts so that the floor of the new museum will be built above the 100-year floodwater mark in a major protective measure.
The government is considering funding options to support the move, which may involve the sale of the remaining land at Ultimo, but no decision has yet been reached.
Labor has backflipped on its support for the Powerhouse’s Parramatta move, with Mr Foley instead favouring only a performance space be built in the region, saying he didn’t want “Neville Wran’s gift to the state chopped into three pieces”.
Minister for Western Sydney Stuart Ayres accused Mr Foley of being “the most anti-Western Sydney leader Labor has ever had”.