The arts, cultural institutions and creative opportunities enrich, support and expand the lives of Australians. They help us explore and reflect on who we are as a local community and as a nation. They can help build social cohesion and support health, education and the future economy. That's why it's particularly alarming that they appear to be seen as little more than an opportunity for cost savings by this Tasmanian government.

Indeed, the latest demonstration of this was the recent news that the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, TMAG, is facing a loss of about one-third of its workforce. TMAG is critically important to Hobart and Tasmania. It holds the state collection of about one million objects of eye-watering value and has an outstanding reputation which draws visitors and researchers to the state and adds considerably to Tasmania's cultural reputation and Tasmania's economy.

Despite this, the Tasmanian government, including arts minister Roger Jaensch and deputy premier Guy Barnett, has confirmed that TMAG will experience 'efficiencies and cuts' under the restructuring of the Department of State Growth into Building Tasmania. While officials have rejected the specific 30 per cent reduction figure, they have declined to provide an exact alternative figure. Media reports indicate the cuts target critical, specialised positions, including the head of the Tasmanian Herbarium, who is an internationally acclaimed lichen researcher, as well as a librarian, a graphic designer, a photographer and senior exhibition officers. Frankly, the loss of such deep expertise would likely harm future research, conservation and education efforts in the state.

These cuts also form part of a broader targeting of creative agencies and public services, with roughly 150 positions slated for elimination or to be affected across Building Tasmania and creative agencies, with Treasurer Eric Abetz targeting around 1,800 public service job cuts by 2032. I've repeatedly raised wider concerns about government support for Tasmania's arts and cultural sector, especially in light of the fact that the ABC has reported on the state of arts funding in Tasmania, which has remained stagnant since 2016-17, and the fact that several TasTAFE creative courses have recently lost government subsidies. There are also the Screen Tasmania cuts, which I've spoken about in this place recently. Of course, Treasurer Abetz might argue that we can't afford these outlays, but I say we can't afford to lose all of this critical cultural capital. So I call on the Tasmanian government to sort out its priorities and to ensure that arts and cultural funding is maintained to ensure TMAG and its staff can continue to safeguard our state collection and that our other arts and cultural institutions can continue to enrich the lives of all Tasmanians.