Taxpayers don’t support MONA, Anthony Albanese

Forget about the electoral college, Barack Obama reckons he could’ve won a third term.

Where would the arts be without government funding? Nowhere, says Anthony Albanese in The Guardian Australia, yesterday:

The Coalition government has cut funding to the arts, reducing the potential for the emergence of new artistic events that can be used to lift local tourism and become international attractions, such as MONA in Tasmania.

Perhaps reliant on private patrons. Tom Cowie writes in Crikey about the museum’s funding model, June 8, 2012:

MONA itself is an entirely privately funded museum, with (David) Walsh and a group of silent partners kicking in the majority of the enormous cost to maintain it.

Albanese continues, yesterday:

It’s time for the government to lift support for the arts, rather than viewing it as an easy target for spending cuts. We need to be more strategic. We need to encourage communities to better align artistic endeavours with tourism promotion.

This stuff would be packing them in from around the world. The Daily Telegraph’sTim Blair lists some recent recipients of taxpayer largesse, May 14 last year:

Waiata Telfer of Queensland collects $34,672 for SONG, “the story of a girl, a bird and a teapot” … Western Australia’s Michelle Hovane receives $12,000 for “enriching my sensory theatre practice with Master classes and mentoring in Body Mind Centering praxis” … Inspired equally by Oliver Stone and Bob Fosse, Victoria’s Byron Perry scoops up $8796 for ­“development of a new work exploring fictitious dance histories and conspiracies”.

Four more years? The Washington Post reports on Barack Obama’s exit interview, yesterday:

President Barack Obama said in an interview released on Monday that he would have beaten Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump “if I had run again”, delivering an implicit criticism of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, which he said acted too cautiously out of a mistaken belief that victory was all but certain.

Thanks, but no thanks. Greg Sheridan writes in The Australian, yesterday:

Barack Obama’s presidency is ending with a fine contempt for democracy as he exhibits every trait of hubris, arrogance and disregard for the messy business of elections and democratic mandates in his efforts to tie the hands of his successor on contentious policy that Obama was never willing to take to the electorate, or put before congress … Obama cannot leave office a day too soon, though God alone knows what other harm he might accomplish before January 20.

Donald Trump summing up in his inimitable 140-character style, Twitter, yesterday:

President Obama said that he thinks he would have won against me. He should say that but I say NO WAY! — jobs leaving, ISIS, OCare, etc.

Closer to home, Fairfax Media political journalist Amy Remeikis makes a stunning confession, Brisbane Times website, yesterday:

My dad defended One Nation over Christmas dinner

Hope they’re not relying on electric stoves to cook it. The Guardian Australia puts South Australia at the forefront of extreme cuisine, yesterday:

Horse, possum, camel and donkey will be available for sale from South Australian butchers from September next year if recommended changes to food safety regulations are adopted.