Senate Hansard

Thursday March 17, 2005

APPROPRIATION BILL (NO. 4) 2004-2005: Second Reading

Senator KIRK  (South Australia) (1.01 p.m.) —I take the opportunity this afternoon to raise an issue in the context of the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 2) 2004-2005 and related bills that we are debating. It is an issue that has been raised by a number of senators during the course of this week. It is of great concern to me as someone from South Australia. The issue I am referring to is the threat that has emerged to numbers in the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. As many would be aware, just recently a national review of orchestras was released. In fact, it was released on Monday. The review was headed by former Qantas boss James Strong, who recommended cutting player numbers in the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra from the 75 it has now to just 56 full-time players. This is a potential cut of 25 per cent to numbers in the ASO. If this were to occur, it would have devastating consequences for the ASO and, importantly, for artistic and cultural life in South Australia.

The federal Minister for the Arts and Sport, Senator Rod Kemp, said in question time on Tuesday that he is `sympathetic' to the idea of maintaining the size of the orchestra in Adelaide as well as the orchestras in Brisbane and Hobart, which are also under threat. He said during question time on that day that the onus is on the state governments to find additional funds for these orchestras. When he was questioned as to how much additional funding he expected the states to pay, he conveniently avoided this question. I join with President Calvert and other government senators and members, who, I understand, include my fellow South Australian, Foreign Minister Downer, in calling on Minister Kemp to ensure that player numbers are retained at existing levels. The ASO needs more, not less, federal government funding.

Both Sydney and Melbourne have two orchestras to deliver orchestral concerts as well as opera and ballet services in their state. Each city employs around 160 full-time musicians. In Adelaide the ASO provides all of these services, albeit on a smaller scale, and it currently has a strength of just 75 players, down from 80. The Strong review recommends cutting player numbers to one-third of those in Sydney and Melbourne.

As a South Australian, I am proud of our reputation as an international centre for arts excellence. We cannot imagine South Australia without the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. We cannot imagine a situation where there was no festival and no fringe, and we cannot imagine how much poorer we would be without the State Theatre Company. In addition, South Australia is proud to hold the WOMADelaide festival. We have the art gallery, the South Australian Museum, the Come Out festival and, as of quite recently, the Festival of Ideas.

South Australia has a long tradition as a vibrant, arts-rich state. Since the time of Premier Dunstan we have had this reputation. We are, after all, the `festival state'. This must not be jeopardised by Sydney based number-crunchers who want to turn Adelaide and South Australia into a cultural backwater. If the government support the recommendation to slash the ASO along with symphony orchestras in Tasmania and Queensland, they will be fulfilling an interstate agenda to centralise musical excellence in Sydney and Melbourne. If this goes ahead, who can say which artistic and cultural institution might be next? Cutting ASO player numbers would take the orchestra back to the strength it had in the 1950s and would severely restrict the orchestra's variety of activities and repertoire.

For the benefit of fellow senators who do not have the good fortune to live in South Australia, I would like to spend a few minutes highlighting the outstanding contribution that the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra makes to my home state. The ASO won international acclaim in 1998 with Australia's first production of Wagner's Ring Cycle, conducted by Jeffrey Tate. This magnificent feat was repeated late last year with the first fully Australian production of the Ring Cycle, conducted by Asher Fisch. This was described by critics as `one of the finest occasions in the history of Australian music'. I will quote what some of the reviewers said. Shirley Apthorp, from the Financial Times in London, on 3 December 2004 said:

Magnificent playing from the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra under Fisch. It is a new dawn for Wagner down under.

John Slavin in the Age on 22 November 2004 said:

What wonderful playing we heard from the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra under Asher Fisch. The orchestra as much as any character is one of the major triumphs of this production.

Roger Covell in the Sydney Morning Herald on 23 November 2004 said:

The whole cycle has amounted to one of the finest occasions in the history of Australian music, opera and theatre.

Very high praise indeed. Another recent highlight from the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra was Dead Man Walking, performed this time with Opera Australia and, again, to world acclaim. And I must not forget a performance that I had the great fortune of seeing quite recently that was a tribute to Percy Grainger, one of the most celebrated pianists of his generation and someone who, I might also add, has special significance to South Australians and is buried in the West Terrace Cemetery in Adelaide.

Our orchestra has performed with artists including Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli, Split Enz, Shirley Bassey, Tony Bennett, James Morrison and Dionne Warwick. This year the ASO adds Lalo Schifrin, kd lang and even Bugs Bunny to the list. Each year the ASO performs in front of what is often a 30,000-plus crowd in a free outdoor concert, known as Symphony Under the Stars, in Elder Park. There are ASO performances for all ages, for all South Australians—for example, Peter and the Wolf was recently performed. Performances are often taken to country areas in South Australia—for example, just last weekend, the ASO performed in Bundaleer Forest in the mid-north.

The ASO provides services for opera, ballet, drama and educational activities in South Australia, Australian conductor training sessions and Australian composer support, as well as touring around South Australia, as I mentioned. Sponsorship levels compare very favourably on a national basis, and private money is also very good. Consider, though, the following: the ASO receives less federal government money than any other professional Australian symphony orchestra, including Tasmania's orchestra, which is 35 per cent smaller in musician numbers. The Sydney and Melbourne orchestras, which I referred to before, each receive nearly twice as much federal government funding. They also have access to much larger box office and sponsorship possibilities.

If the ASO were downsized, obviously it would be restricted in the repertoire that it would be able to play. It would mean, for example, that large, late-romantic works such as Mahler symphonies and Richard Strauss works would no longer be heard in Adelaide. The ASO would also be restricted in the variety of activities it undertakes, and the opera and ballet repertoire would also be less extensive. It would be a mighty challenge to maintain the current high artistic standards of the orchestra. It would be very difficult to attract the highest quality players and to keep our players from moving on to larger, more attractive orchestras overseas and interstate. The players cut from the current ensemble would be unlikely to stay in Adelaide and, when augmenting casuals or when emergency players are needed, they may have to be flown in from interstate at great expense.

Sponsorship would also suffer because, as a smaller orchestra, the ASO would find it harder to attract sponsorship on par with current levels, which are, as I said, good. If the repertoire were to be narrowed, audience support could be expected to decline, and this, in turn, would lead to a drop in the quality of conductors and soloists. Music education in our state would also suffer. Many of the existing players teach instrumental music over a range of levels, including at the tertiary level. Already the ASO is unable to offer competitive wages to its players. Sydney and Melbourne salaries are 35 to 60 per cent higher than those offered to players in Adelaide. Sydney and Melbourne orchestras are able to fund excellent conductors and soloists on a regular basis. When the orchestras were part of the ABC, top conductors would tour centres outside Sydney and Melbourne, but since the orchestras have left the ABC this very rarely happens.

The government's terms of reference for this review were quite clear: there is no more money for this sector. It is a sad reflection on the priorities of this government if it removes federal funds from the ASO. In conclusion, all I can do is suggest that the minister, Senator Kemp, take notice of what not only opposition senators but also government senators and even people such as Minister Downer have been saying. They have been calling upon Minister Kemp to ensure that funds are not cut to the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. It is a very important part of South Australia. As I said, we are the festival state. It is an integral institution and it must be maintained at current levels.