E&OE...................................................................................................
Well, thank you very much Kerry Stokes. To Dr and Mrs Kennedy, to
Mr and Mrs Murphy, to Sir Arvi and Lady Parbo, to my ministerial colleagues,
Richard Alston and Peter McGauran, Kate Carnell the Chief Minister
of the Australian Capital Territory, other distinguished guests, ladies
and gentlemen.
Tonight is really important for two reasons. It's the opening of a
wonderful exhibition and the huge crowd that is gathered here tonight
is testament to what a remarkable exhibition it is and also for the
tremendous support and affection that the National Gallery enjoys
in the life of Canberra and in the cultural life of our nation.
But it's also an occasion to honour a remarkable act of philanthropy
because what the Sara Lee Corporation is doing to mark and honour
the millennium is about as imaginative and as a self-sacrificing act
of cultural philanthropy that any company could possibly undertake.
In an age when there is plenty of cynicism about the behaviour of
corporations, much of it unjustified, at a time when it's easy to
take pot shots at manifestations of capitalism it really is very refreshing
and encouraging to be able on an occasion like this to a very, in
a very wholehearted and unreserved way to express our respect and
our admiration for what the Sara Lee Corporation is doing. And the
fact that we at the end of the process that we are going to be a very
important part and the recipient of one of the items in this remarkable
collection adds to our sense of connection and our sense of pleasure.
And to you Mr and Mrs Murphy, in particular, who have come here as
the representatives of the company for tonight, can I express on behalf
I know of all the friends and supporters of the Gallery and all of
the art lovers of Australia, how much we respect your company for
what it has done. And how much we thank you for the item that the
Gallery will receive from the collection and also to honour the generosity
and farsightedness of the Sara Lee Corporation.
This is a remarkable exhibition and over the next two months or more
tens of thousands of Australians will have an opportunity of viewing
it. And to appreciate in a personal way the generosity of the millennium
gift of the company. I think this is also an occasion, of course,
to celebrate the ongoing success, the continued and growing success
of the Gallery under the Chairmanship of Mr Stokes and also under
the Directorship of Dr Kennedy. I was present at the opening in 1982
and it is for that reason Janette reminded me before I got up and
said: you remember how long the speeches were on that occasion. And
I do indeed. So I simply want to conclude by saying one or two important
things about the example that I think this gift by Sara Lee is setting
to those who would aspire to greater corporate philanthropy here in
Australia.
The Americans can teach us a lot about corporate philanthropy. Many
of us have understood that for a very long period of time and so much
of the cultural and artistic treasure of the United States is a result
of that rich tradition of corporate philanthropy. And that is one
of the reasons why a few months ago a number of us in the Government,
Richard Alston and myself, and aided and encouraged by people like
David Gonski and others sat down and worked out how we might as a
Government give more incentive and more stimulus to corporations to
embrace the traditions of philanthropy of other countries. And as
a consequence of that I made some announcements which I hope will
represent very important taxation incentives both to individuals and
also to companies to make gifts of art collections, of items of art
and generally to move down the path towards greater philanthropy.
In our nation as we move forward we have a lot of challenges and there
are a lot of things we want to do and in reality there's no simple
way of saying well, all of it can be done by the Government, all of
it can be done by the business sector, all of it can be done by individuals,
all of it can be done by charitable agencies. What we really need
is to get all of them together to build what I often call a social
coalition. And the way you build a social coalition, of course, is
for the Government to take a lead and for the Government to remain
in the case of the arts a strong and consistent supporter of the arts.
And I think it is fair to say in this country we have developed a
pretty bipartisan tradition of supporting the arts in this country.
And a lot of people have made a contribution to this Gallery. It's
construction of it was commenced during the period of the Whitlam
Government, it was opened in a Fraser Government and I know during
the time of the Gorton Government the concept of a national gallery
was very much in the minds of the members of that Government.
So it's very much a commitment from the Government level. We have
a growing number of people who are demonstrating all around the world
the rich artistic talent of this country. We need to encourage the
business community more, many have been generous without tax deductions
and without tax encouragement. And I record my appreciation on behalf
of you all for that great generosity.
But as a result of these changes which will encourage greater corporate
philanthropy I believe that we can enter a new era and we can begin
to build in this country some of the pattern of corporate giving to
the arts and corporate philanthropy, which has been taken for granted
for decades in the United States.
Sara Lee has demonstrated to us how it can be done at its pinnacle
and at its best. And it is a wonderful millennium gift to the art
lovers of the world. We are honoured to have the exhibition here.
We thank the company for what it is doing, we thank the company for
the gift that it will make after July of next year to this Gallery
and it will be a permanent reminder to all who come here of the greater
generosity of the Sara Lee Corporation.
I therefore have very great pleasure, ladies and gentlemen, in declaring
the exhibition open. I wish it well, it will be a resounding success
and it is yet another demonstration of the great relevance and the
great inspiration of the National Gallery of Australia to the cultural
life of our nation. Thank you.
[ends]