Anthony Byrne (Holt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to raise an issue that relates to social infrastructure in the outer suburbs, and in particular social infrastructure for those living in my electorate of Holt. In recent years, there has been a significant focus on rural and regional development, with particular attention being paid to sporting centres. However, the needs and interests of our local community and indeed many communities are diverse. We need to provide them with the necessary infrastructure to satisfy these needs—for example, an art gallery for people living in the City of Casey and in my electorate of Holt. Art galleries lie at the heart of many great cities around the world. Recently, the United Artists of Casey put forward a proposal to create an art gallery for the local community and to create an icon, a gallery that will stand equal to any gallery in Australia and in the world. This is a vision that is worthy of attention and worthy of consideration.

The United Artists of Casey headed by convenor Calvin Bell, who lives in Narre Warren South, have developed a vision to create a Baron Casey art gallery and arts precinct in the City of Casey, which happens to be named after the former Governor-General of Australia and resident of Berwick, Sir Richard Gavin Gardiner Casey, otherwise known as Baron Casey. The vision by this artist collective is to create a world class art gallery and arts precinct that will cater for the creative needs of Casey's multicultural community and cater for a wide diversity of artistic expression now and into the next century. The Baron Casey Art Gallery and Arts Precinct would comprise an art gallery; a grand exhibition centre; a dedicated smaller artists gallery; a series of various sized artists workshops, meeting and demonstration rooms; a featured cafe and sculpture garden; and a destination iconic top class restaurant.

There is a strong need for an established arts centre. For example, this year in Casey there will be four major art exhibitions: the Edrington Grand Art Exhibition, the Berwick Art Society's Artfest, the Casey Rotary Club show and the Grand Art Show run by the South Eastern Arts Festival. However, currently there is no suitable exhibition venue in the local area and so organisers have to compromise by seeking venues in local schools, at TAFEs such as the Chisholm TAFE or at the Berwick showgrounds hall.

The City of Casey and our federal government have worked hard over recent years to build new sporting facilities—it is a rapidly growing outer suburban growth belt—and other infrastructure priorities, including the Casey Regional Athletics Centre at Casey Fields in my electorate of Holt. However, I believe that there is a clearly identified need to provide community infrastructure to support the arts. There is a need to construct an art gallery to service the nearly 260,000 people currently living in the City of Casey. A case in point: the 2013 Casey Citizen of the Year, Anne Atkin, who has created an art therapy group in Berwick called Painting with Parkinson's, has to run her upcoming event A Walk through Our Art Exhibition in Moorabbin, which is a long way away from Casey, because there is no art gallery in the City of Casey.

The City of Casey is filled with many creative artists, including Anne Atkin, Sam Michelle, Janet Matthews, Tracey Lockley, Ern Trembath, Do Noble, Nora Howard, Glenn Hoyle and Sarah Ferrante, who was the winner of best painting award and the perpetual trophy at the Great Art Show during the South Eastern Arts Festival in 2012 and winner of the best heritage painting award in the federal government's Your Community Heritage Program and the National Trust Award by the South Eastern Festival at the Edrington Grand Art Exhibition this year. Despite the City of Casey being filled with world class artists, it is still the case that these visual artists do not have facilities in the local community like a centre with artist workshops, an artist gallery and a grand exhibition centre.

Art galleries and art museums put places on the map. MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art, in Hobart, has had a profound impact on the Tasmanian economy and has led to Hobart being shortlisted by Lonely Planet as one of the top 10 cities to visit in 2013. Also a Deloitte Access Economics Report of 2010-11 stated that the Art Gallery of South Australia pumps $3 into the local economy for every $1 provided by the state government. We have the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, the Bendigo Regional Art Gallery in Bendigo and the Tarra Warra Gallery in Healesville. It is time for a gallery of similar significance to be put in the outer suburbs, such as those in my electorate of Holt. I service a growing, diverse and multicultural community. I am going to lend my support to this project and do what I can to see it succeed.