Integrity advocate Geoffrey Watson says APY art boss Skye O’Meara must step aside

An investigation into the APY Art Centre Collective will ‘forever be under a cloud’ while manager Skye O’Meara remains, a public integrity advocate says.

APY Art Centre Collective general manager Skye O'Meara. Picture: Brett Hartwig

A South Australian-led government investigation into alleged unethical practices at the APY Art Centre Collective will “forever be under a cloud” while manager Skye O’Meara stays at the helm, a public integrity advocate says.

Geoffrey Watson SC, former NSW police integrity commissioner and now a director at the Centre for Public Integrity, said Ms O’Meara should “most definitely” step aside for the ­duration of the investigation.

“It is almost impossible (to ­conduct a thorough investigation) if a person central to the investigation is also there,” he said.

“It can sometimes be done ­simply by excluding an individual from the particular investigation – and that is commonly done – but it is almost impossible with a person under investigation where that person is the boss.”

He said investigators could “only do their best” but “the ­problem is that the conduct of the ­investigation is impeded … and even if the investigation came to the view that there was nothing wrong, it would forever be under a cloud”.

It was common practice for people to stand aside in such ­circumstances, Mr Watson said.

Centre for Public Integrity director Geoffrey Watson.

The SA-led investigation, backed by the Northern Territory and federal governments, comes after a narrow review by the ­National Gallery of Australia cleared the provenance of 28 APY paintings due to hang in its exhibition Ngura Pulka.

Ms O’Meara’s position has been endorsed by a list of more than 40 artists who said: “ ‘White hands on black art’ is a false story and it ­always was.”

Yet some of the people on that list have previously spoken to The Australian in recorded, on-the-­record interviews during which they went into great detail about how they had allegedly witnessed staff, including Ms O’Meara, paint­ing substantial sections of Indigenous artworks.

They also detailed allegations of bullying and money being used as a form of coercive control.

Several of these artists recanted their stories after The Australian sent questions to Ms O’Meara seeking a response to their alle­gations. In one instance, The Australian received a letter of recant from artist Rhoda Tjitayi.

“I have been tricked and pushed into sharing a story with a journalist Mr Greg Bearup which is causing me so much pressure and stress it is making me sick,” the letter said. “I have been pushed into telling a lie about what happens in our art centre in Adelaide …”

It went on: “Our white staff only work at the direction of artists … they never make the paintings or boss artists into painting a certain style or way … we would never let white people treat us so poorly at our work … I was pressured into telling stories to Mr Bearup that were not true.”

The Australian never interviewed Ms Tjitayi.

Indigenous artist Paul Andy has consistently said he witnessed Ms O’Meara and other white staff painting on Indigenous canvases, including his own.

He has been under constant pressure from other APYACC artists to recant his story and says he was offered a $12,000 bribe to do so, which he rejected.

While the NGA investigation found nothing amiss with the 28 paintings that are to hang on its walls, it was told of issues “that were said to be problems with the management of the APYACC”.

The NGA inquiry panel said it was not its role to investigate the management of the APYACC, which would rather be a focus for the SA-led investigation.

Both SA Arts Minister Andrea Michaels and her NT counterpart Chansey Paech – along with the four peak bodies representing every Indigenous arts centre in the NT, SA and Western Australian – are aware of the integrity conflicts identified by Mr Watson.

Ms Michaels and Mr Paech have both called on Ms O’Meara to stand aside – a call endorsed by federal Arts Minister Tony Burke, and echoed by the four peak Indigenous arts bodies – but their calls have fallen on deaf ears.

In an ­interview with The Australian, Ms Michaels expressed frustration Ms O’Meara had not stood down, and the APYACC board had not forced her to do so.

In an interview with the ABC, APYACC board member Sally Scales, who also sits on the board of the NGA, rebuffed the ministers who had called on Ms O’Meara to step aside. “You know, this is our company and the board is fully committed to our staff,” she said.

“And, you know, we look at it and go, that’s not (the minister’s) call; that’s our call.”

Ms Scales said she had no faith in the investigation process.