`Cultural hooliganism' in SA

By Anthony Thirlwall

ADELAIDE -- On June 22, minister for the arts Diana Laidlaw announced plans to close and sell the South Australian Film and Video Centre. The centre, one of the most highly regarded media resource centres in Australia, has about 28,000 videos in its catalogue and is the third largest collection of its type in Australia. In the past year it had 1400 registered borrowers, most of them organisations.

The videos will now be placed in the State Library Lending Service and distributed through public libraries. The films will be transferred to the Mortlock Library.

The government's decision flies in the face of the recommendations from review committees over several years, including the most recent, which supported retention of the centre.

The Public Service Association (PSA), which covers workers at the centre, described the move as “cultural hooliganism”.

Jan McMahon, from the PSA, said that the centre's 14 staff were shellshocked by the decision, which, she claims, came only 10 days after assurances to the union that the centre would not be closed.

It is also claimed that SA Film Corporation Board (to whom the centre reports) knew nothing about this decision.

The Arts Industry Council of South Australia and the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance have condemned the decision. Alliance secretary Stephen Spence told Green Left Weekly, “It has been rumoured that $1.5 million will be cut from arts industries, and as a result other arts groups are under threat”.

It is believed that many small theatre groups may be the next to go, including Vital Statistics, the Junction Theatre, Mainstreet Theatre, Doppio Teatro and possibly the Red Shed.

The PSA is urging the centre's 2000-plus clients to pressure the government to reverse its decision. “When Jeff Kennett closed the equivalent organisation in Victoria, the backlash was such that he was forced to re-open it”, McMahon concluded.

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