Messages of Support

Dear Premier, Ministers, and Members of Parliament,

it is with grave concern that I recently learned from my esteemed colleague Dr. Gintaras Kantvilas that the Tasmanian Government plans to "restructure" the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, thereby eliminating the Tasmanian Herbarium in its own capacity as the world's leading research entity on Tasmanian biodiversity.

The head of the Tasmanian Herbarium Dr. Kantvilas  is a globally renowned specialist on Tasmanian Lichenized Fungi. 

Dr. Kantvilas has won many awards for his outstanding research and his contribution to Tasmanian biodiversity research was just recently recognized by your own government, awarding him the Premier’s Tasmanian STEM Researcher Award.

The restructuring plans suggest eliminating several positions central to the operation of the Herbarium: the Head of the Herbarium, the Curator of Lichenology, the Curator of Bryology, and the Herbarium Administrator. This is short-sighted. In times of facing a global biodiversity crisis, Tasmania cannot afford to downsize essential research on organisms that comprise more than half of its biodiversity: lichens, bryophytes, algae, and fungi.

These organisms provide essential ecosystem services not only to Tasmania's diverse ecosystems, but they are globally important. Biodiversity is essential for ecosystem health of the planet and ultimately for our own survival as the human species.

I have heard that these ill-conceived restructuring plans will equally affect the Zoology Section of the Museum, by merging three positions - Palaeontology, Vertebrate and Invertebrate curator - into one single researcher. No single person can efficiently occupy these roles in one capacity: invertebrates are the most diverse organisms on the planet. Suggesting that such diversity can be addressed by a single person is ludicrous.

I urge you not to go ahead with these ill-conceived plans. They will cost the people of Tasmania dearly. Natural History Collections are not just assemblages of dead objects, museum artifacts to be preserved, These collections play a crucial role in understanding ecosystems, they are active objects of research and investigators can learn a great deal about the organisms preserved in specimen collections. They are crucial in understanding and addressing biodiversity loss, genetic diversity and resource management, species conservation and ecosystem functioning.

All across the globe, researchers who study this biodiversity rely on these collections. Only most recently the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recognized the crucial role of Natural History Collections for the conservation of biodiversity.

As Managing Director of the Consortium of Lichen Herbaria, an international initiative for sharing biodiversity information on Lichenized Fungi globally, I am much too aware how little attention these often neglected, but crucially important organisms receive by the international research community. Lichens have no eyes. They are not large, iconic species like the Tasmanian Tiger, yet they are equally important for your precious and very unique ecosystem. 

These organisms need attention and stewardship. And the researchers employed at your world-renown institution, the Tasmanian Herbarium are just that: stewards of biodiversity.

Eliminating these essential positions for the sake of saving a few dollars is a very grave mistake.

Regardless of political affiliation, I believe the Tasmanian people deserve much better and as the ones representing Tasmania, I ask you all to do what you can to make sure that these plans will not be allowed to proceed.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Dr. Frank Bungartz

______________________________

Frank Bungartz, Ph.D.
Collections Manager of Lichens and Digital Data
Natural History Collections, Arizona State University
Adjunct Scientist - Charles Darwin Foundation (AISBL)
Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz, Galápagos, Ecuador
Adjunct Scientist - National Biodiversity Institute of Ecuador (INABIO), Quito, Ecuador

Meeting chair Jane Wilcox put the following motion, moved by Deb Wace and seconded by Patsy Jones*

That this meeting calls on the Tasmanian Government to immediately reverse the proposed job cuts at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, retain the skilled staff who care for and interpret Tasmania’s state collections, and provide TMAG with the secure, long-term funding needed to fulfil its public, cultural and scientific responsibilities.

The motion was carried.

*Patsy Jones’ comment after seconding the motion: ‘I did it for Dick’. Patsy’s late husband Dr Richard Jones (1936–1986), a biologist at the University of Tasmania, was one of the founders of the United Tasmania Group in 1972. It was the world’s first Green party, and later morphed into the Tasmanian Greens.

The following is one of a number of messages of support received from people who were unable to attend the public meeting arranged by the Friends of TMAG in Hobart on 8 October 2026. The message was read to the meeting by FOTMAG President, Jane Wilcox

Rodney is as he puts it, an old Palawa man. He has been involved in the struggle for Palawa rights and recognition for over 50 years. He has worked in senior roles in both State and Federal governments in Aboriginal Affairs. He was one of the leaders in the repatriation of the so-called Crowther collection, and the 1995 return of Aboriginal land including Wybalenna. He was also the inaugural chair of TMAG's Aboriginal consultation group. His major interest in retirement is to promote and advance Treaty and Truth-Telling in Tasmania.

Rodney Gibbins, inaugural chair of TMAG’s Aboriginal consultation group

"Good afternoon everyone. As we have heard today the TMAG is going to be impacted severely by proposed public sector cuts both financially and professionally. This is certainly not in the interest of the Tasmanian community.

Over the years, the Palawa community has had its issues not only with TMAG but Government in its entirety.

There was a reluctance on the part of TMAG to rethink and revamp negative and ill-informed attitudes towards the Palawa community.

These attitudes were long standing. For example, Truganini was buried in the grounds of the former Female Factory in South Hobart only to be dug up two years later by members of the Royal Society and her skeleton placed on display at the TMAG for over 40 years.

There was also the reluctance of the museum to hand over the Crowther Collection of Palawa human remains, consisting of 33 skulls and three skeletons, removed from Putalina to the Palawa community.

That was combined with the hesitation of the TMAG to change the old diorama which was a 3D representation of a family group at camp in front of a stolen Petroglyph from Preminghana. A display that was naïve and inappropriate and didn’t recognise continued Palawa Sovereignty over this land.

However, the winds of change were having an impact on TMAG, new staff and a new professional outlook was having a positive influence on TMAG with new concepts and thoughts. 

For example, Pat Sabine, a former director of the TMAG during the 1990s, brought with her a genuine concern about how Palawa were portrayed and represented in the museum. She consistently advocated for the development of a more contemporary and honest portrayal of the Palawa community in Tasmania.

Perhaps for the first time TMAG began to understand and support truth telling relating to Palawa experiences past and present. TMAG gained an insight that made for a more genuine partnership with the community.

These changes have evolved over the years.

New displays were developed, including the much visited and applauded Aboriginal gallery, ningina tunapri. It offered for the first time a comprehensive account of Palawa history and cultural expression. 

The Gallery reflects the thoughts and aspirations of that community. The guiding principle of the project was to provide a learning experience, successfully prompting non-Aborigines to rethink their attitudes, actions and the impacts on the Palawa community.

Another exhibition was developed to complement ningina tunapri. This was the Parrawa Parrawa exhibition about the conflict between Palawa and the Colonial invaders. I believe one of the first of these types of exhibitions to be developed anywhere in Australia. 

It was a difficult story to tell, one of violence and dispossession. It gave visitors an experience of conflict, particularly from the Palawa perspective, which has been rarely told.

Today the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery should be complimented for the steady progress it has made in its outlook and support for the Palawa Community.

Let’s not forget the day the TMAG and the Royal Society of Tasmania apologised to the Palawa community for past actions that have negatively impacted on it. This is a maturity that is now being reflected across all areas of TMAG.

The representation of Palawa in TMAG is now characterised by respect and engagement, developing a strong consultative relationship with the Palawa community that has led to an equal and respectful partnership, leading the way across government and its institutions.

TMAG with Palawa have achieved some significant outcomes over the years. Which included return of human remains and petroglyphs removed from Palawa cultural sites.

These outcomes mattered because strong leadership and professional integrity with actions matter. TMAG provided the tenets for these to occur. That's something that the whole of government could learn.

Of course, there is always room for further improvements. We must all closely guard the advances that TMAG staff with Palawa have fought so hard to achieve.
 We must also remember that these achievements have been echoed right across the broader community to the benefit of all Tasmanians.

These actions/ advances can only happen with new blood and fresh, innovative ideas brought about by a fully resourced and professionally staffed TMAG. 

We must stand together to challenge these cuts proposed by the government.

Thank you for listening."

The following is one of a number of messages of support received from people who were unable to attend the public meeting arranged by the Friends of TMAG in Hobart on 8 October 2026. The message was read to the meeting by FOTMAG President, Jane Wilcox

Meg Webb MLC, Independent Member for Nelson

Dear friends,

Unfortunately, a parliamentary committee site visit means I am unable to attend today’s important public meeting.

Otherwise, I would be there in person today, standing up to be counted and standing beside you all in solidarity with the staff, volunteers and supporters of our internationally acclaimed and iconic TMAG and Herbarium.

Although absent, I raise my voice with yours, calling on the Rockliff government to stop this short-sighted madness immediately!

The many individuals and local groups emailing me know this is madness.

As do the thirty-odd professional, research, and other stakeholder entities who have also been contacting Tasmanians MPs, including from museums and Universities of Trieste, Uppsala, Oslo, Gdansk, Madrid, Barcelona, Portugal, Prague, Ottawa, Arizona, Mexico, Brazil, Turkey — all expressing their disbelief, and calling for an urgent reconsideration.

And as do the thousands of Tasmanians who have signed the current petition calling on the cuts to be reversed. We all know it is irresponsible insanity to gut this publicly-owned custodian of our archival and living cultural and natural heritage.

TMAG is not a time capsule of static collections but is a time-machine connecting the past, present and also the key to the as-yet unlocked secrets of the future.

I am today pledging, at the earliest available opportunity, to put to a vote in the Upper House a motion calling for an immediate freeze on all budget and job cuts targeting TMAG and the Herbarium.

Let’s hope common-sense will kick in before then, and we see the government call off now these destructive and incomprehensive cuts. But if not, I guarantee the Parliament will have the opportunity to demand it!

Lastly, thank you to Friends of TMAG for your efforts to save this iconic custodian of so much of that which makes Tasmania unique — we are all indebted to you. 

The following is one of a number of messages of support received from people who were unable to attend the public meeting arranged by the Friends of TMAG in Hobart on 8 October 2026. The message was read to the meeting by FOTMAG President, Jane Wilcox

Honourable Alan Blow AO KC, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Tasmania

I was appointed as one of the trustees of TMAG in 1990 and was the chairman of trustees from 1991 until March 1997. TMAG was chronically underfunded during those years, but we were able to manage, just. The government had removed three education officers in 1990, but otherwise the institution was fully staffed and we were able to open seven days per week for seven hours per day. That has not been possible for several years as a result of past budget cuts.

We were getting about 100,000 visitors per year through the doors in the 1990s. Nearly triple that number are coming through these days despite the reduced opening hours. 

It was on my watch, over 30 years ago, that Dr Gintaras Kantvilas was appointed as head of the Herbarium. He is an impressively talented botanist and has been building his international reputation ever since.

Successive governments have reduced funding for the TMAG over decades but the past cuts have never threatened its ability to function as a State museum and a State art gallery. If the recently announced staff cuts go ahead, the proper functioning of the institution will become impossible for the first time. Special exhibitions will become impossible, as will the rejuvenation of permanent exhibitions. Without half of its staff, only half of the Herbarium’s work will get done.

No doubt our politicians are working from the premise that there are more votes in football and stadiums than there are in botany and art. However, they simply fail to understand the importance of public cultural institutions and their continuity. I sincerely hope that they can be persuaded to think again about what they are doing.

Thank you Jane … and thank you all for coming out today and defending the integrity and capacity of TMAG to do its job as custodian of the State Collection.

I would like to start by echoing the acknowledgement of the Palawa people, the traditional owners of the land we meet upon and the waters of timtumili minanya.

I acknowledge too my parliamentary colleagues and the work you are doing to highlight the plight of TMAG.

Thank you to the Friends of TMAG for the invitation to speak and the work you do to support TMAG. For 44 years, Friends of TMAG has backed in the institution with advocacy, fundraising and community engagement and as volunteers, you demonstrate an incredible commitment to the Museum, its mission and its place within Lutruwita/Tasmania.

I am truly sorry that that commitment is not mirrored by Government and today you have been forced into the position of defending the public funding needed to maintain TMAG as the world-class institution that it is.

Thank you too to Sally, Stephenie, Ian and Andrew. Your expertise, experience and passion is evident and we now have a complete perspective on the invaluable role TMAG and its staff play in preserving Tasmania’s past and contributing to Tasmania’s present.

And of course, we’re all here because of a deep, genuine commitment to TMAG’s future and well-placed fears that it is being challenged.

State Budget cuts are a threat to public services across the board.

It seems that week after week, another Government unit has rumoured, then proposed, then confirmed job cuts.

The Inclusive Practices Team in the Department of Education.

Parks and Wildlife.

Tas Fire and Emergency Services.

Disaster readiness and recovery.

Screen Tasmania.

And TMAG, amongst many, many others.

This year’s budget, handed down in May, holds over $1.4 billion of so-called ‘efficiencies’ over the coming four years. Cuts.

In the reworked Department of State Growth, where TMAG sits, $264 million of ‘efficiencies’ are budgeted to be found. $21 million this year, $75 million the next, $80 million in 28/29 and $88 million at the end of the forward estimates.

Just like with TMAG, these cuts impact already-stretched staff valiantly working to deliver the services that Tasmanians need and deserve.

For TMAG, both Government and community expectations haven’t changed.

As we heard from Ian, TMAG has a statutory requirement to keep, grow, care for, exhibit and share the State Collection. Under law, it is required to meet these obligations.

In the Tasmanian Government’s budget, it’s expected to do more with less.

Given the proposed staffing cuts, the 2026/27 budget contains what look like some heroic growth aspirations for visitation to TMAG.

Despite reduced staffing and investment, the Budget articulates a target of 10,000 extra visits to TMAG sites this financial year – growth from 290,000 to 300,000 visits. Beyond that, we don’t have figures, but as city and tourism growth is always desired, so too are the expected demands on TMAG.

Any Government budget, and the decisions that flow from it, are a reflection of that Government’s choices.

Its priorities.

What it cares for.

And what it doesn’t.

It’s fair to say there is widespread outrage at Government’s lack of care for TMAG.

Just last weekend I was proud to sponsor a parliamentary petition on behalf of Ian and the Friends of TMAG. As at this morning, it has ticked over 6000 signatures. Please sign it if you haven’t and share it with other Tasmanians.

I’ll table it in Parliament as a clear call on Government to maintain funding for TMAG so that all positions are retained, and to invest in TMAG's buildings to ensure they are fit-for-purpose.

Late last year I visited TMAG to attend an artists’ panel discussing their contributions to Hobart Current, a major exhibition spanning the entire summer period.

It was a wet week, and in the main foyer there were buckets on the floor catching drips from the ceiling thanks to a leaking roof. While a letter I got from the Minister last week claims the roof is repaired, the stains remain and we know there’s similar problems at Moonah and Rosny where parts of the State Collection are housed. While staff funding is inadequate … so too is infrastructure investment.

In a developed society with a demonstrable budget crisis and existing sports infrastructure, it is simply inconceivable that a Government would choose to splash billions on more on a stadium, against expert advice, while it cuts public servants and the state’s premier arts and cultural institution sags with inadequate investment and now reductions in staff.

A stadium approved against expert advice despite its impacts on the economy, its impacts on the heritage values of this very precinct we are meeting in, and the fact that, according to the estimate of the treasury expert on the assessment panel, will cost us $90 million per year just to service the debt.

Today at TMAG there’ll be the patter of small feet as a new generation of Tasmanians on school holidays explore the galleries and are inspired by the exhibitions, the stories, the interpretation and the wonder of art and objects of almost indescribable diversity.

From my own childhood, visits to TMAG are still etched in my mind … and heart, as I know they would be for thousands of Tasmanians.

TMAG is a central stitch in our cultural, historic, scientific and artistic fabric and an important part of our economic framework.

It simply cannot have its capacity reduced.

To do so will diminish us all.

This is the transcript of a speech given by Vica Bayley MP, Deputy Leader of the Tasmanian Greens, at the public meeting organised by the Friends of TMAG in Hobart on October 8, 2026

Good afternoon to all. I am privileged to speak after these amazing women. I stand gratefully on Palawa country. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.

In Lutruwita Tasmania there are many thousands of people like me. I doubt that TMAG keeps the figures. Its curators, its staff and volunteers, they just give.

I am one of the very many whose research has relied on TMAG. To illustrate this I want to tell three short stories:

Some time ago in the Collections and Research facility, I held in my hand the skin of a bird collected by the TMAG director J.R. Cunningham at Orielton in 1960.

It was my only chance to touch in Tasmania the bird that I would follow through Australia, to China and Arctic Alaska.

The Grey Plover is an unremarkable looking bird, little known in Australia generally, with an extraordinary story of long distance migration.

It was the staff of TMAG who necropsied the bird to show it was female, who looked after that specimen for 65 years, and made it available just so someone like me could hold and contemplate it, and in our work tell its story.

What a treasure house of such stories that unremarkable building at Rosny is.

When I came to write The Ancients, about Tasmania’s trove of globally important long-lived paleoendemic trees, I was welcomed at the Herbarium.

People there enabled me to search histories of discovery, of King’s Lomatia, of King Billy, Pencil and Huon Pine in particular.

John Davies, Lyn Cave, Miguel De Salas and others all shepherded this naive beginner. I was amazed by the riches in specimens held by the Herbarium, by the unfolding stories of discovery documented there, by the very many volunteer and professional collectors who assembled this information in these fragile specimen folios that I could touch — even by things like revelatory marginalia on these pages. 

The Herbarium is a plant bank of timeless value. It sits there, unassuming next to Churchill Avenue but again it offers inspiration for research that should be more widely recognised by the public, and by political leaders.

My third story hasn’t made it into a book — yet.

Those of us who live along country roads in Tasmania I think become almost inured to the toll of roadkill. But on our local road we were stopped in our tracks when we came upon a dead Wedge-tailed Eagle, belly up, showing no sign of being hit by a vehicle.

We took it to a freezer at Raptor Refuge and from there it made its way to TMAG — another fatality for the very steadfast Judy Clarke to necropsy. She indeed determined in some detail this next milestone on the road towards extinction of this species.

It was a juvenile male that perhaps had tried to settle on the pole beside where it was found. Judy found burn marks and haemorrhaging that confirmed beyond doubt that it was electrocuted by the old, bare copper wires above. 

How lucky we are to have this kind of difficult, but true public service from such professionals.

The current projected budget cuts give the impression that political decision-makers think an institution like a Museum or Herbarium is static, and just needs a few folk to dust and mind the collections.

This is so wilfully wrong. Instead these are constantly evolving organisms, full of expertise.

Is there a cultural erasure going on in Tasmania’s public service? We are hearing from the government of ‘short term budgetary pain’. But there is no long term gain in these projected cuts. There is only a dismantling of expertise.

The challenge for the government instead is to reverse this course, and to find ways to guarantee the work of people who are doing their best to exalt Tasmania.

Thank you.

This is the transcript of a speech given by Andrew Darby, award-winning journalist and nature writer at the public meeting organised by the Friends of TMAG in Hobart on 8 October 2026

For four years I was employed at TMAG to raise funds for research, exhibitions, education activities and events. I applied for grants, met with donors and supporters, and stewarded bequests from generous people in Tasmania, and across Australia and the world.

I know first-hand that TMAG has been starved of money and resources for decades. Every year when the budget came down the Tasmanian government provided just enough to keep the lights on and the doors open, which is the barest minimum for a state institution.

TMAG cares for our State collection. It is responsible for helping us to examine and address our collective history. It is a FREE source of knowledge parallel to formal education.

In Australia, there is a contract between the state and its people to support such public cultural institutions. There is an expectation that the government will shoulder the responsibility for their funding.

But research shows that national public expenditure for the arts peaked in 2018 and government spending on culture dropped well below that of our OECD peers. It has barely risen since then.

So TMAG, like many other such places, is compelled to have some income diversification and less reliance on government funding. This pattern of declining public funding forces a reliance on private donors.

Philanthropy is founded on the notion of the love of humankind expressed through deeds of practical benevolence. It is underpinned by trust in the institution or persons receiving the gift.

Trust in the durability of the place, the shared values and priorities of the people overseeing its governance and — most importantly in this context — the curators and experts with whom those donors connect.

Private gifts of art, objects and money have been critical to the existence of TMAG as it has grown in its many iterations.

You might be familiar with the names on the labels in TMAG’s galleries such as Bock, Rees, Glover, Greeno and Gough. But do you know these names?

Mrs JH Clarke: in 1951 she presented to TMAG the famous Portrait of Mathinna (the girl in the red dress) by Thomas Bock.

Miss J Beatie donated a 1904 photo of these very docks where we are sitting right now, revealing the changes to this place across the centuries.

That treasure trove of natural stories at the Herbarium contains pieces that were donated by scientists named Nelson, Scott and Kantivelas. And Jayne Wilson left a bequest to TMAG for a bursary to research those collections.

Then there are the Friends of TMAG — our wonderful organisers — plus the TMAG Foundation, TMAGgots (the former young friends), the volunteer guides and more.

These supporters number in their hundreds and, over the decades, have given countless hours of time, money and good will.

Possibly TMAG’s most highly-reference and reproduced collection item is the painting The Conciliation by Benjamin Duterrau, 1840. It was purchased by the Friends of the Museum with the Board of Trustees in 1945.

All these gifts to the museum happened because the benefactors trusted the Tasmanian government to adhere to its own Act requiring that it exhibit, promote, disseminate and otherwise make available the TMAG collections. And let’s not forget TMAG’s obligation to the Palawa community to reconcile the items that were stolen from their Ancestors to fill these collections.

TMAG has relied on the relationships between its professional staff supported by the kindness of the community, individuals, donors, sponsors and in-kind partners.

Yet there is only so much that the staff can do with community and donor support.

Bold and innovative exhibitions showcasing our state and its stories have died in the development stage due to a chronic lack of resources.

A failure to provide adequate funds for digitisation renders the collection inaccessible to students and researchers in Tasmania and beyond.

For years, water has dripped through the ceilings and into the premises that are meant to protect our collections, whilst also eroding the well-being of the curators entrusted with and deeply committed to their care.

Now, the government seeks to gut it further by banishing the very people who have kept our museum on life support. 

After years of underfunding TMAG, the ease with which this government magicked-up money for professional sport and mining juggernauts is a cruel twisting of the knife.

The Tasmanian Government’s callous cutting of the museum staff jobs is also a betrayal of patrons, benefactors and volunteers in an active and committed community.

And what do we lose by whittling away at this place full of stories and wonder?

Philanthropists and sponsors are not there to do the job of government, and they know that. Donors and collectors will give their precious items and support to other — dare I say it — mainland institutions.

We will lose our ideas, art and natural objects to other places because supporters will quite rightly assume that this government doesn’t care about TMAG.

Tasmania’s iconic and painstakingly curated sources of creativity, curiosity and knowledge will wither and literally fade.

The Tasmanian government must reinstate all staff who have been sacked and — at the very least — provide adequate funding to operate properly. Only by doing so it will honour its contract with Tasmanians of the past, today, and the future.

This is the transcript of a speech given by Dr Stephenie Cahalan, cultural historian and philanthropy expert, at the public meeting organised by the Friends of TMAG in Hobart on 8 October 2026

Good afternoon everyone and thank you for coming to support TMAG. TMAG is Tasmania’s most significant publicly owned cultural institution and the anchor for cultural tourism in the State. In his State of the State address in March Premier Rockcliff stated that his government was ‘proud of its support for TMAG’ and that investment in arts and culture is good for the visitor economy, for the regions, for the wellbeing and health of Tasmanians and to create a more inclusive economy. So we should have nothing to fear should we?

So what underpins TMAG?

It’s the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Act of 2017 which replaced the previous Act of 1950. Under the Act TMAG has certain statutory obligations which are expressed as ‘Institutional objectives’. I have paraphrased these here to make them more comprehensible:

1. To care for and develop the TMAG collections by acquiring works, objects and specimens;

2. To create exhibitions using TMAG collections and material loaned to the museum

3. To promote the work of the museum

4. To promote and support the educational use of the collections

5. To conduct, support and promote research into the collections, both by TMAG staff and external parties.

Let’s get down to the nitty gritty. With regard to the positions at the Herbarium and in Vertebrate and Invertebrate Zoology which are threatened by these job cut proposals, the scientists in these positions have essential roles not just in TMAG but across the government and indeed the Tasmanian economy. The knowledge they hold and the advice they give are called upon to assist other government agencies and private citizens to manage a broad range of other legislation. These include:

Threatened Species Protection Act

Nature Conservation Act

Weed Management Act

Biosecurity Act

Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Act

Poisons Act

Forest Practices Act

Nature Conservation Regulations

Plant Quarantine Act

We have already heard from Sally Bryant about the critical significance of these collections. Another position on the chopping block includes the librarian, a very important role in a research institution. Librarians are information specialists with skills well beyond google searches, Wikipedia or AI.

Just what are the proposed funding cuts and what do they mean? Tony Bonney of Inkhorn Projects has done a deep dive into the 2026 Tasmanian budget papers to see what they indicate about arts funding in general and TMAG in particular.

He found that the funds provided by government to TMAG will fall from $13.5 million in 2026-27 to $9.8 million, in 2027-28, that is a reduction of 27% in a single year. At the same time TMAG has been set performance targets of raising visitor numbers by 6.4% over the same period. Why do visitors come to the museum? Many come for research; most come to view exhibitions. But the proposed job cuts include a designer, photographer and senior exhibition officer — these positions are required to mount exhibitions. They are held by staff with years, even decades of experience in museum practice — you can’t just hire people on contract to fulfil these roles. It does not work. We are already seeing the results: old exhibitions are getting tired, they are changed much less frequently than previously, galleries are closed some days because there just is not the staff or budget to cover illnesses and the like.

The TMAG funding dilemma is mirrored across the Arts and Culture sector. The budget papers estimate that arts and culture contribute nearly $1.1 billion to the Tasmanian economy. In 2026-27 the government will spend $33.4 million across the sector — that means it expects a return of $32 for every dollar it spends. By comparison, sport and recreation, which is a very important part of government expenditure will get $196.7 million — that is almost six times the arts and culture funding allocation. The Australian Sports Commission has found that $7 is returned for every dollar spent in that sector.

I think that discrepancy says it all — the arts and culture dollar has to work nearly five times harder than the sport and recreation dollar. We need the government to take arts and culture seriously, to fund it and TMAG as the State’s leading cultural institution adequately so the sector and TMAG can fulfil what is expected of them.

This is the transcript of a speech given by Ian Terry, former TMAG History and Cultural Heritage Curator, at the public meeting organised by the Friends of TMAG in Hobart on Thursday 8 October 2026

These proposed redundancies cut to the very heart of Tasmania’s unique State collections. Revered institutions such as TMAG, including the Herbarium, are repositories of our environmental and cultural history. They hold the story of where we’ve come from, what’s shaped us, and where we are today.

Our natural collections are not objects sitting in dusty drawers. They are reference libraries and type specimens, with documentation and curation that must keep pace with changing times. New species are being added all the time especially during TMAG discovery expeditions, demonstrating there is so much more to learn about Tasmania’s natural environment. Maintaining and interpreting these collections requires highly skilled, academically trained professionals — real people with experience and dedication.

Tasmania’s flora census is compiled and maintained by the Herbarium, unravelling the taxonomy of plant species as they evolve, new variants emerge, and Tasmania undergoes such rapid ecological change. The Herbarium’s work contributes to the Millennium Seed Bank and is foundational to Tasmania’s plant conservation programs. The same applies to the zoological collections telling the story of colonisation and all new taxa identified since. Their staff including the vertebrate curator and palaeontologist Dr David Hocking and Dr Gintaras Kantvilas, one of the nation’s leading lichenologists, forge links not only across Tasmania but nationally and globally, building a network of collaborative research and professional interchange.

TMAG, established by the Royal Society of Tasmania in 1846 for the public good, has a proud history of renowned scientists, who have maintained these botanical and zoological repositories with excellence and commitment for generations.

Instead of building their capacity, instead of showcasing Tasmania’s scientific excellence, these government cutbacks erode their function, devalue their contribution and send a message that a short-lived budget gain is more important than our state’s heritage.

Only a few months ago, ABC TV featured eight episodes nationally of Tonight at the Museum, showcasing these very collections, a production made possible by thousands of dollars in State Government funding. How ironic is that! The segment with David Hocking featured a thylacine pup in a glass jar, a harrowing sight. Where do you go for information and access to specimens on what has become the world’s most infamous creature encapsulating the story of extinction. Similarly, the segment with Gintaras demonstrating that while lichens may be outta sight and outta mind, they are a fascinating and significant component of our flora diversity.

There is no ‘extravagance’ in these roles or institutions. They already depend heavily on volunteers and ‘Friends of’ groups to help keep them buoyant. Volunteers contribute invaluable time and expertise in ensuring TMAG continues to be a state institution of global importance. When you cut staff to save money, you lose more than people and the services they offer. You lose access and the heart and soul of an organisation — something that goes far beyond a budget line.

These collections and the people who maintain them are Tasmania’s rarest gem. And rarity matters: we pride and promote ourselves on it.

Because when you simply cut a position or close a role. You’ve eroded something that will never be replaced. And this is what these proposed cutbacks will do!