$150K art grant at centre of Australia Post’s latest spending scandal
In another twist to the ongoing scandal involving Australia Post’s spending, Labor leaders are pushing for a review into $150,000 art grant gifted to the National Museum after it was revealed a Liberal stalwart was on the board for both organisations.
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A Liberal Party stalwart on Australia Post’s board helped tee up a $150,000 sponsorship of an art exchange with China for the National Museum — where he is also on the board.
The Herald Sun can reveal Tony Nutt, an ex-Liberal Party boss and key adviser to John Howard, put the museum in contact with Australia Post to seek its support for a tour of Indigenous art in China and a reciprocal exhibition of Chinese art in Canberra.
Labor is now calling for further scrutiny of the arrangement, amid an urgent federal government probe into Australia Post’s spending, governance and culture.
Mr Nutt was appointed to both boards in March 2018 by former communications minister Mitch Fifield.
A National Museum of Australia spokeswoman confirmed Mr Nutt “assisted the museum’s development staff in establishing initial contact with their relevant counterparts at Australia Post”.
“At this point the museum’s development team began discussions with Australia Post in relation to a possible sponsorship,” the spokeswoman said.
“Mr Nutt played no further part in the museum’s processes.”
Australia Post agreed to be the major sponsor of a five-venue tour of China and Taiwan of the National Museum’s “Old Masters” exhibition of Aboriginal bark paintings.
The $150,000 grant also supported a return 2019 exhibition in Canberra called “The Historical Expression of Chinese Art: Calligraphy and Painting from the National Museum of China”.
As Labor pursues the government over what it argues is a Liberal-stacked board at Australia Post, opposition communications spokeswoman Michelle Rowland said the sponsorship needed to be looked at.
“If these reports about sponsorship arrangements are accurate, it is only appropriate that the senate examine the transaction,” Ms Rowland said.
“It’s no secret the Australia Post Board is a dysfunctional swamp of former Liberal Party hacks and mates of Scott Morrison. They are seemingly incapable of executive oversight, and there are serious questions that need to be asked.”
Mr Nutt was Mr Howard’s principal adviser for a decade and later worked for Victorian premier Ted Baillieu, before resigning at the height of the secret tapes crisis in 2013.
He also served as the federal and Victorian Liberal Party director.
Asked why Australia Post handed over $150,000 to the museum, and what role Mr Nutt played in that arrangement, an Australia Post spokesman declined to comment.
“The federal government has announced an investigation and Australia Post has committed to fully co-operate,” the spokesman said.
“It is not appropriate to respond to individual media enquiries relating to expenditure while this is underway.”
In its 2018-19 annual report, the National Museum thanked Australia Post for its “major cash sponsorship”, although the amount was not detailed.
Museum director Dr Mathew Trinca said Jan Adams, Australia’s ambassador to China, remarked at the “Old Masters” opening in Beijing that it was a “cultural diplomacy milestone”. The reciprocal exhibition in Canberra was visited by more than 65,000 people.
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