Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to announce the launch of the Parliamentary Friends of Museums, Libraries and Galleries, which I will co-chair with Senator James Paterson. The group will provide a forum for members and senators to meet with leaders in the cultural sector. Our intention is to provide insight into the important role these institutions play in celebrating, critiquing and influencing our culture and our history. Darwin remains the only capital city in Australia that does not have a museum dedicated specifically to the visual arts, despite the Northern Territory's and first nations people's rich cultural heritage. After years of neglect under the CLP, the current NT Labor government is investing in the cultural sector in the Territory, and we will be getting a new museum. The existing Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory will also be extended. Alice Springs will receive a national Indigenous arts centre. These initiatives will see rich returns for the Territory in the form of revitalised CBDs, support for the regions, tourism benefits and greater cultural engagement. The economic and cultural benefits of a world-class institution have been demonstrated well, I think, by the MONA effect that members will be aware of down in Hobart, Tasmania. $760 million was spent by visitors to the MONA in Hobart in the 2016 calendar year. We hope that cultural institutions in Darwin and Alice Springs will have a similar effect. (Time expired)