Social Development Committee: Petition No. 60 of 2024, South Australian Museum

Ms THOMPSON (Davenport) (11:49): I move:

That the 50^th report of the Social Development Committee, entitled Petition No. 60 of 2024, South Australian Museum, be noted.

Petition No. 60 of 2024 was presented to the House of Assembly by the Hon. John Gardner on 28 August 2024. It contains 10,561 signatures of South Australian residents following the announcement in February 2025 of a proposed restructure and reimagining of research collections, divisions and exhibitions and saw an inquiry into various governance, staffing, budgetary and other matters related to the SA Museum and its administration.

The Social Development Committee received the petition on 5 June 2025 and commenced its inquiry. The committee notes the Premier, the Hon. Peter Malinauskas MP, established an independent review of the SA Museum in April 2024 to inquire into the proposed restructure of SA Museum and to examine the options going forward. The review panel reported on 19 September 2024 making six recommendations, all of which were accepted by the SA government.

Following this review, and the recommendations made, the SA government made commitments to support the SA Museum in developing its future strategy and committed a $4.1 million injection of funds over two years. During the time the independent review panel was inquiring into the SA Museum, the Statutory Authorities Review Committee resolved on 13 May 2024 to inquire into and report on the SA Museum and the Art Gallery of South Australia.

That inquiry addressed other aspects of the SA Museum's administration, such as the role of the SA Museum Board, the funding program and the involvement of the community in the SA Museum's future. The Statutory Authorities Review Committee tabled its final report on 19 August 2025, making nine recommendations to assist the SA Museum in the future.

The Social Development Committee reviewed these two preceding inquiries, the recommendations made and the SA government's commitment to the future of the SA Museum. The committee determined that the terms for inquiry requested by Petition 60 of 2024 have been properly considered and addressed in the reports and recommendations of the preceding two inquiries. I commend to the house the 50^th report of the Social Development Committee.

Mr BATTY (Bragg) (11:51): I rise to make a brief contribution thanking the Social Development Committee for their report into the petition into the South Australian Museum. This report came off the back of more than 10,000 South Australians signing a petition to try to protect the South Australian Museum and to try to protect science, in particular at the South Australian Museum, which was presented to this house by the member for Morialta. I want to commend his work in gathering some 10,561 signatures on this petition, which I think demonstrates the significant regard in which the Museum is held by so many South Australians and demonstrates the deep concerns that were raised in the community by what was being proposed by the Museum and, indeed, what was being proposed by the Malinauskas Labor government.

I thank the member for Morialta and many other members of this place who helped gather those signatures on the petition, standing out the front of the South Australian Museum for many, many hours. I think the members for Heysen and Unley have been there doing it and, indeed, the Liberal candidates for both Unley and Dunstan have gathered many of those signatures as well.

That effort, of course, was being done side-by-side with a really concerned local community. I want to particularly acknowledge a couple of those community leaders, who are my own constituents, being Antony and Mary Lou Simpson, for the work that they did in shining a light on this issue and in trying to protect what is a beloved cultural institution here in South Australia.

Reaching that 10,000 threshold for a petition to be referred to a committee is not something that happens very often and when it does happen we should pay attention to the issue that is being raised. I think the proposal that was being raised and suggested was extremely concerning for not only the local community but the thousands of people from across the state, the country—indeed, the world—who signed this petition and expressed concerns.

The proposals would have drastically downgraded the scientific research capability at the South Australian Museum. They would have seen the loss of some 27 expert researchers, work that simply is not being done anywhere else, which would have been a devastating blow for the scientific capacity of the South Australian Museum. We also fear the reimagining that was being proposed could have seen some very unwelcome and indeed radical changes to the Museum galleries, including potentially the loss of some of the most beloved displays at the South Australian Museum.

I remember speaking to South Australians out the front of the Museum, while we were gathering signatures on petitions, and hearing South Australians of all ages and from all across the state talking about their fond memories of the Museum and their love for galleries like the Egyptian Room, for example, and the mammal collection. What was being proposed rightly caused a lot of concern in the community and should never have been proposed in the first place. Let's not forget that it has only been stopped now because of the work that was done by the local community; there was a huge amount of backlash in the local community for these fairly outrageous proposals.

Standing side by side with the community, those thousands of people, was the Liberal opposition, standing up for our cultural institutions, standing up for the South Australian Museum to ensure it can keep being enjoyed for generations to come, because again—and make no mistake about this either—these were proposals that were backed by the Malinauskas Labor government. That is very, very clear. Indeed, the Premier's own department was providing resources to the South Australian Museum management in implementing the proposed restructure.

Make no mistake: these were supported by the Malinauskas Labor government, and they have only been stopped after there was significant backlash in the community, after there was pressure from the opposition, after the Premier was embarrassed into activating what is fast becoming the favoured mechanism for putting out fires caused by his ministers, the Premier's Review, which is becoming a bit commonplace around this parliament. This led to the pausing of this restructure and a review of this restructure, and, hopefully, a different strategic direction for the South Australian Museum. I say hopefully, because while we of course welcome the abandoning of this reimagining it should not have been imagined in the first place.

We do fear that the battle is not over, because the South Australian Museum, like so many of our cultural institutions, has for a long time now been finding themselves in a financial situation where they are being asked to do ever more with ever less. It was as recently as budget estimates this year that we heard that perhaps the Museum budget, the operating grant being given to the Museum, is being reduced again.

Even on the back of the year or two of controversy that we have seen at the South Australian Museum, the year or two of South Australians expressing their love for the South Australian Museum, what do we see in terms of funding? I asked the minister about funding at estimates and was told that the South Australian Museum received an operating grant of $13.57 million in 2024-25 but this year has received a letter saying they will receive $11.454 million. As if trying to cut 27 scientific jobs last year at the Museum was not enough, as if trying to shut down iconic and beloved galleries was not enough, what we see now is the latest attack on the South Australian Museum from those opposite.

What the Museum deserves, as do all our cultural and arts institutions, is sustainable and long-term funding, not short-term sugar hits whenever Premier Malinauskas needs to clean up a mess that has been made by one of his ministers. If we do not see that, we will find ourselves back in this situation again. It will be death by a thousand cuts at the South Australian Museum—but we will be there watching.

The community will be there watching, because they have expressed loud and clear through this petition that they want to see a South Australian Museum backed with funding, that we are protecting researchers and protecting beloved galleries so that it is a place of not only education but inspiration and world-class research for many generations of South Australians to come. Doing anything less risks short-changing the next generation of South Australians, because the Museum is an institution cherished by all South Australians. This petition demonstrates that.

Debate adjourned.