Not all of the Powerhouse Museum is Parramatta-bound

THE Powerhouse Museum’s move to Parramatta is going ahead — but some of the facility may remain at Ultimo, Arts Minister Don Harwin has ­confirmed.

Arts Minister Don Harwin. Picture: Stephen Cooper

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THE Powerhouse Museum’s move to Parramatta is going ahead — but some of the facility may remain at Ultimo, Arts Minister Don Harwin has ­confirmed.

Mr Harwin also said the ­relocation, which could cost up to $1 billion, would not be in this year’s upcoming state budget because the business case was not ready.

It comes as NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley said any backtracking on the move would be a “disgrace” and a “kick in the guts to the people of Western Sydney”.

NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley.

Arts Minister Don Harwin says the Powerhouse Museum will move. Picture: Stephen Cooper

“The Liberals’ election promise was to move the Powerhouse entirely to Western Sydney and they’re now backtracking and putting inner-city interests before the millions of people of Western Sydney,” he said.

Mr Harwin said he was also moving away from ex-premier Mike Baird’s idea of using the old Powerhouse site for ­apartments to help pay for the project.

Instead, he is considering retaining a small portion of the museum at the Pyrmont site — or “cultural space”.

The recent Egyptian Mummies exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum.

“I think there is a lot of concern about the idea that we might have a net loss of cultural space,” Mr Harwin told The Daily Telegraph.

“The other thing is you have got to remember a lot of people feel it’s great we have another museum in Parramatta but why shut another one?

“That’s the difference in the way Mike saw it and the way that (Premier Gladys Berejiklian) and I see it.

“We are prepared to be ­flexible.”

The Powerhouse Museum is moving.

Mr Harwin said other ­museums were interested in using the current Powerhouse site. And said it was impossible to demolish the entire Powerhouse Museum because there were five heritage-listed buildings on the site.

The minister also denied claims the move could cost $2 billion. “(It’s) crap. One billion dollars is probably an exaggeration … but depending on how you built it, it could be made to cost $1 billion if you wanted to,” he said.

Mr Harwin said he would soon put the matter to “public consultation” with a final business case to be released later in the year.

An artist’s impression of the proposed Powerhouse Museum on the Parramatta River. Picture: Supplied

The cost of the museum would be factored into the midyear budget update in ­December. The project would be finished by 2022, he said.

Mr Harwin said the new museum would be the flagship campus for the Museum of ­Applied Arts and Sciences, which also had sites at Castle Hill and Millers Point.

MAAS Trust chairman Barney Glover said the expanded business case showed the importance of the arts and culture to the state.

“The MAAS Trust remains committed to working with government to realise investment in MAAS and ­deliver on the vision for world-class facilities in Parramatta,” he said.