Liberals must set the record straight on TMAG cuts

Minister Roger Jaensch needs to set the record straight on the looming job cuts at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.

Ever since TMAG staff were told about the gross reduction in staff and funding to pay for 13 years of Liberal waste, Labor has been inundated with messages of concern in emails, letters and through the Uncover the Cuts website.

Eric Abetz’ callous cuts don’t only represent job losses for hardworking, passionate and dedicated staff – they represent an erosion of Tasmania’s history, art and culture.

Following the callous scrapping of TasTAFE courses that train our creatives across screen and media, graphic design, and fashion and textiles, and the atrophy at Screen Tasmania, the Liberals are dismantling our state’s future brick-by-brick to pay for 13 years of waste.

A state that invests its culture and creativity is a state that invests in its future, and this shortsighted approach will be a massive step backwards.

Eric Abetz’s cuts will mean fewer opportunities for Tasmanian artists, fewer Tasmanian jobs in the Tasmanian creative sector, and fewer reasons for people to stay, visit and invest in Tasmania.  

Minister Jaensch has denied the TMAG cuts will be 30 per cent of the workforce, but it’s impossible to believe him while the Liberals remain unable to explain how many jobs will go from TMAG by the end of the year.