The National Gallery of Australia has warned there'll be rolling closures of its public and operational spaces over the coming years as it works to fix the institution's ageing facilities. And while the federal government insists it's already committed more than half-a-billion dollars for national institutions in Canberra, some say it doesn't go far enough to protect priceless artworks.
00:00Touring the National Gallery of Australia in 2023, Anthony Albanese admired the collection including blue poles amid concerns about the state of its lodgings.
00:13The idea that you would house a $500 million artwork in a building with buckets to collect leaks from a leaky roof is absurd.
00:24We're a better country than that and Australia deserves better than that.
00:28That day the federal government announced more than half a billion dollars over four years for national collecting institutions including the gallery.
00:37But the NGA's latest annual report warns a significant backlog of building failures and ageing infrastructure is currently only partially funded and they'll be rolling temporary closures for years to come.
00:50We should see a priority on these institutions, a priority on Canberra and there's no shortage of money for other things
00:57like building a car park or a national security precinct. What about our national cultural institutions?
01:03The government argues it funded the gallery's needs in its first term but there's now more work to do.
01:09It's a priceless collection. At the gallery it's an institution for the nation and we need to make sure that it's fit for purpose.
01:16But we also need to test some of those costs when they come to government and so it's been treated in that way and it will go through the normal budget process.
01:25In terms of a cost benefit analysis if you have $5 billion worth of collection that belongs to all Australians you'd think that fixing a leaky roof would probably pass that.
01:36In a statement an NGA spokesperson says the gallery has comprehensive strategies in place to protect its collection from water damage and a head contractor has been appointed to begin building works in early 2026.
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