The Liberals Jeremy Hanson is working up his outrage at the true cost of Skywhale.
In a Public Accounts Committee hearing today, it was revealed the true costs to the ACT for the Skywhale for the Centenary of Canberra will be $300,000. ACT Opposition Leader Jeremy Hanson asked today why again it is only after questioning by the opposition and the media that the full truth is uncovered.
“In a week that Katy Gallagher called for a doubling of ACT politicians, this $300,000 extravagance again shows out of touch the ACT Government is with Canberrans’ priorities.
“It was also revealed during the committee hearing that whilst Canberra taxpayers will pay $300,000 for the hot air balloon, it is not actually owned by the Territory and has a design life of only 100 flights, with only one of those flights planned for Canberra so far.
“Whilst we respect the artist, it would have been nice to see something that that is visually more symbolic to the ACT and better represents our 100 year birthday,” concluded Mr Hanson.
Meanwhile the CanMeme guys and girls have been having a field day:
As luck would have it in this Brumby free week we reviewed Whale Ale in this week’s rugby podcast in case you’ve not had enough of all things Cetacean.
And now to the poll:
Loading ...UPDATE: And with thanks again to CanMeme we should note the Canberra launch of the controversial beast will be at 9am tomorrow morning (Sat 11 May)
Further Update: Enjoy twitter’s take through #skywhalemyths .
vaguely said :
Life evolved in the ocean. Mammals evolved on the land. Whales are mammals (that’s what the big boobs are all about), and they live in the ocean.
It’s a bit rich for the owner / operator with 338,000 reasons in his back pocket to be marshalling supporters for the CT poll on his FaceBook page(www.facebook.com/GlobalBallooning) !
I felt that unease when I first saw it, but the more I see of Skywhale, the more I like it. Have a look at the artist’s other work. Not always aesthetically pleasing, but wonderfully challenging. The fact that Government normally makes so many boring ‘safe’ decisions, that this art can make it through the red tape and make it out the other side with boobs still attached says something.
$300,000 for ONE flight? And we don’t own it for a collection, or future outings? I actually LOVE the sculpture, but this is outrageous! Where does the cost come from, given that the sculpture will in fact be good for 100 flights? That’s $30 million for the lucky company down south, folks! (VERY interested to know how the tender process was managed ……….. )
Apparently it was made from all the plastic bags that Canberrans were too naughty to use.
So dereliqued right now.
CanberraMelon said :
Then you, and the other 2 people who like it, pay for it!
The continuing ability of the pollies to not understand the difference between people laughing at us rather than with us, still astounds me.
poetix said :
No no, that’s Kim Kardashian in her sofa cover.
Ben_Dover said :
Needs more tits.
Anyone seen “The DarK Crystal”?
Do I detect a certain similarity to this “original” work of “art”?
Philanthropic funding of $50,000 – provided by the Aranday Foundation
FAIL!!!
“It’s a piece of art…challenge yourself and take a step outside your comfort zone”
So not only do we have this alleged art insulting our intelligence and taste, but it’s bringing the usual barrage of meaningless arty-farty cliché’ out of the closet to.
I want my dollar back.
FXST01 said :
That should be sucks!
The artist was on radio this morning, she actually kinda made sense and is pleased with the “discussion” around it and justified its existence quite articulately….
but mind you, I hadn’t had my morning coffee….
but of course all of this discussion and outrage is gonna make everyone go and look at it, which is what they want.
CanberraMelon said :
Also, if challenging myself means listening to this drivel, I’d rather not:
“My question is what if evolution went a different way and instead of going back into the sea, from which they came originally…”
How is the current evolutionary state whales going [i]back[/i] into the sea? I guess that is the relevance, all those Minke whales getting beached on the shores of LBG.
shauno said :
If that is not the most accurately observed analogy for Canberra that I’ve ever seen I don’t know what is.
It works on every possible level.
Agh, there she blows.
Blows alright!
CanberraMelon said :
Bollocks.
CanberraMelon said :
It’s not just some random piece of art, it’s meant to be a celebration of 100 years of Canberra.
It look’s like a failed attempt at making a Gang Gang Cockatoo (something that is relevant), they looked at it and though ‘Needs more tits’.
I’m not upset about the amount spent on it, I’m upset that the celebration of 100 years of Canberra has little to do with Canberra.
c_c™ said :
I’ve come around to the whale. My first reaction was a big WTF, but it’s definitely grown on me.
However, this is where I have issues. If it is taxpayer funded public art it should belong to the public. The fact that the artist owns it, yet we will be the ones funding its flights outside of Canberra seems to me a fairly odd arrangement.