Wagnerian soprano and ROH Brunnhilde Lisa Gasteen has some harsh words for the Australian Govt on the news that the Adelaide RING cycle has been cancelled after a single series of performances:

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24025851-5016727,00.html

The Government's refusal to fund its part of the restaging of the Adelaide Ring is a total cultural disaster. I was present at the 2004 staging, which proved:
(a) Australia's heretofore hidden capacity to stage great opera on a grand scale; and
(b) the power of 'kulcha' to communicate and unite people of diverse nationality, background and affluence (I was a poor student who had spent absolutely everything on tickets and travel for this, and I was sitting next to wealthy Brits who spend their retirement luxuriously flying first class from Ring to Ring).

On a broader note, the funding situation in Australia is dire. This stings all the more, because in Melbourne, at least, 'The Audience' seems to have been growing (or at least getting better educated) over the last five years.

In general, I think Australia has the capacity to do pretty much anything it sets its mind to. We have a great deal of local talent and ingenuity (in all fields, be they artistic, scientific or commercial), but it seems we have so rarely exhibit sufficient ambition to actually demonstrate our abilities. The Adelaide Ring was a triumph, and I'm of the opinion that a Government renegging on its promise to fund a portion of this is nothing more than a tacit statement that the almost-always mediocre Opera Australia is 'good enough'. It's not. Gasteen's statement that we need to 'grow up as a country' couldn't be more accurate.

Indeed:

West Australian Liberal leader Troy Buswell broke down in tears yesterday after admitting he sniffed the chair of a female staffer after a meeting in his office in late 2005, but he refused to stand down over his extraordinary behaviour. Mr Buswell agreed that his actions were inappropriate and offensive, but he said he had strong support from his colleagues to remain leader. He said it was up to voters to decide if he was fit to be premier but he had now modified his behaviour.

Just 24 hours after 13 times labelling the chair sniffing an “unsubstantiated, anonymous rumour” which he would not comment on, Mr Buswell finally admitted he sniffed the woman’s chair seat after she got up so he could get a laugh from other staff. He was chastised by her at the time and thought the matter was over. Mr Buswell’s change of heart followed the woman publicly confirming the details.

Yesterday, he apologised unreservedly for any embarrassment or discomfort he caused and said he had taken stock of his actions and changed. He said the transformation came after another damaging scandal last year when he snapped the bra of a Labor staffer in a drunken escapade at parliament. He has also been accused of making inappropriate comments to female MPs.

“I’ve acknowledged that my behaviour in the past, aspects of my behaviour, may have been unacceptable to people and may have indeed been offensive, even openly offensive,” he said. “I’ve tried to draw a line in the sand to examine myself, my character and my behaviour. It’s not an easy process but I’m trying to move forward.”

He said he was very aware of the standards required of a party leader. But when asked how he had explained his behaviour to his wife and teenage sons, Mr Buswell broke down and had to stop the media conference while he regained his composure.

It is Tristan all over again is not it?

I'm trying really hard to follow this thread. Really I am. 

Alas, Member Grew has not told us the full story about Mr Buswell:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Buswell

A colourful character, is he not.

We draw no conclusions about the cultural differences between ourselves in the Mother Country and our Antipodean cousins from the fact that the best that our political yob element can manage is dressing up in silly waistcoats and smashing up the odd Oxford restaurant ....

"The one who denied it... supplied it"

I only wish my brain cogs whirred instead of stuttering along, Tommo, but thanks for the kind thought

He is certainly neither of the latter, and his education and intelligence generally would preclude him from being the former, but he seems to have a typically 'baby-boomer' disinterest in anything cultural. At all.
The recent furore over child nudity in art saw him describe the work of Bill Henson as 'disgusting' and 'repulsive'. While he had the decency to also say that this was personal opinion, and that politicians had no place interfering in what had become a criminal investigation (!), I also think that politicians need to seek slightly better and more informed advice before mouthing off to reporters like that. If the question had been "what do you think about the situation in Tibet?" you can bet he'd be much better informed.

Frankly, I don't think the arts are going anywhere good under Kevin Rudd, but there are certain basic social, economic and environmental concerns that made John Howard precisely the wrong the person for the job at the last election.


I don't think this problem is anything new. Certainly it can't have been caused by ELISION's recent performance of Asphyxia. Perhaps it was the performance in May 2007? It's all been downhill since then.
Actually, come to think of it, there's another performance next week. Perhaps somebody should take a measurement of The Arts' respiration both before and after the concert, to see what affect the piece has. Measuring Richard's respiration before and after that piece could also be alarming...

Since before he turned to politics he was, I understand, a diplomat, speaks Chinese, and was posted to China, I think that would certainly be true in his case.