It appears Creative Australia’s boss forgot about Google

Creative Australia boss Adrian Collette has come under fire after early works of Khaled Sabsabi raised questions as to his suitability of representing Australia at the Venice Biennale.

For a corporate animal of decades standing, Creative Australia’s embattled CEO, Adrian Collette, really needs to start embracing the indispensable power of Google stalking. Maybe it’s also time for a refresher course on the necessities of due diligence.

Facing a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday night, Collette was grilled about the sensational dumping of artist Khaled Sabsabi from the Venice Biennale. Collette helms a quarter-billion dollar government enterprise, wholly funded by taxpayers, yet he revealed without a shred of hesitation, or discomfort, that neither he nor any of his staff had examined Sabsabi’s work prior to appointing him to represent Australia on the global stage.

Well, we all know the consequences of that decision. Two of Sabsabi’s pieces were brought up in parliament, Creative Australia wet the bed in response, Collette called a crisis meeting and within ninety minutes Sabsabi’s nomination had been totally rescinded.

The arts industry, livid over what’s happened, has riven itself since.

Senate estimates hearings are always a sideshow in the circus tent of federal parliament, always playing out some public humiliation to a small, cruel audience.

Adrian Collette, chief executive of Creative Australia, didn’t do much due diligence. Picture: Britta Campion

Collette played his part, fending off questions about his resignation, thundering like King Lear and saying the fate of his organisation hinged on the dumping of Sabsabi, as though Creative Australia’s funding might actually be revoked at any moment.

Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi played the only card she has and asked if Sabsabi was sacked because of his race. Collette looked at her for a moment and then nearly burst out laughing.

Faruqi’s colleague Sarah Hanson-Young claimed “a Murdoch newspaper hack job” was to blame for this mess; Collette corrected her and said it was actually all Senator Claire Chandler’s fault.

Chandler, you see, spent five minutes googling Sabsabi and quickly discovered his prior work, which featured two American airliners cutting through the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001.

It was called Thank You Very Much and its impromptu resurfacing, Collette said, threw Sabsabi’s selection into chaos.

Senator Claire Chandler’s questions seem to have caused quite the uproar. Picture: Martin Ollman

Collette never saw those images because he relied on second-hand assurances from advisers and direct reports, which classified Sabsabi as a low-risk proposition.

The only wrinkle, as they noted in a January brief to Arts Minister Tony Burke, was Sabsabi had joined a boycott of the Sydney Festival in 2022 because it was planning to stage a performance by an Israeli choreographer.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young thought we were to blame but, as usual, she was wrong. Picture: Martin Ollman

This process, Collette said, had “served us well in the past”, but “came up short this time”.

You don’t say? Collette may not have twigged to it yet, but every major artistic decision being considered right now is a political hot potato wrapped in dynamite and strapped to a big cartoon alarm clock threatening to explode into ribbons of scandal: every grant, every award, every quaint little morning tea.

In Collette’s curious world, a representative to the Venice Biennale — one of the most prestigious art appointments which can be made by the organisation he leads — somehow fell outside of these risk considerations. Apparently there has never been a better time to stake your agency’s reputation on pure spec.

Just as strange, too, is that the Twin Towers imagery was the source of Collette’s sudden doubts in Sabsabi, but not his work prominently featuring Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, or his record of trying to de-platform artists who for whatever reason he didn’t approve. And we’re not referring only to the Sydney Festival matter.

Last year, Sabsabi signed a petition calling for Israel to be excluded from the Venice Biennale as well, and we’re betting Collette didn’t know about that one, either.

And it’s interesting what wasn’t said at the hearing, for we can only wonder what Sabsabi and also-turfed curator Michael Dagostino were actually planning to unveil from the global stage of Venice.

Pastoral landscapes? Swagmen by the campfire? Lurid visions of Sydney Harbour which even Ken Done wouldn’t condone?

We seriously doubt it.

YB

What’s a little price fixing between friends?

Are there really any penalties for bad behaviour when you contract with the government? Any cursory look at the fallout from the PwC tax leaks scandal suggests a quick management shuffle and a few name changes can wash out even the worst behaviour.

And, buried deep in the 11th hour of an interminable Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday night was another little snippet suggesting it’s just too difficult to hold contractors to account.

Quizzing nbn officials, Nationals Senator Ross Cadell raised an issue which has been buzzing round market circles for weeks: was the national broadband network considering handing its next field services contract — likely worth a couple billion dollars over its life — to a company getting sued by the ACCC?

Cadell was very careful not to name the company, but he was talking about Ventia Australia — currently facing civil action from the competition watchdog over allegations senior managers conspired with their counterparts at Spotless to fix prices for major maintenance and services contracts across Australian Defence Force bases during the pandemic.

Ventia is now believed to be the preferred candidate to win a big role in nbn’s next field services contract.

In response to Cadell’s question, nbn executives told the Senate the tender process had been running since 2023, and no firm decision had yet been made — although they also admitted that only the finer points of the contract with their preferred pick were holding back a final decision.

And yes, nbn was aware of the allegations made by the ACCC, but was very confident in its due diligence processes. Nothing to see here, Senator, and we’ve already told everybody they’ll have to behave if they win it.

Now, to be clear, the ACCC only launched its court case in December, both Ventia and Spotless vehemently deny any wrongdoing and will defend their position in court. As it stands, Ventia is only the subject of allegations, nothing has been proven.

So, why is this an issue? Because a new contract is close to being issued, and you can bet it won’t be unwound if the ACCC wins its case.

Here’s the kicker — the current contract doesn’t expire until September and nbn had previously offered the incumbents the possibility of another year’s extension beyond that.

Most aggrieved in all this will be ASX-listed contractor BSA, which had part of the contract until it was abruptly told by nbn in February it was no longer in the running for a renewal. Around 80 per cent of BSA’s business comes from nbn contracts, losing the gig will likely send BSA broke and put up to 1300 workers out of a job.

That’s the nature of contracting, of course — you’re always at risk of being replaced, and little is guaranteed.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland. Picture: Damian Shaw

Margin Call hears the contract is big enough to need the signature of Communications Minister Michelle Rowland. That would mean delays if an election is called shortly and the government enters caretaker mode.

Still, is there any need to hurry when such serious allegations are floating around, particularly if the incumbents can stay on the job until the courts sort it out? We’ll be curious to see what happens when the contract hits the minister’s desk.

NE