Opinion - 06 May 2001

 

A Quiet Revolution in N.S.W? – Perhaps

And Roger Wilkins (48) could be the instigator.

A change, perhaps of fundamental significance, has occurred at the Arts Ministry in New South Wales. Just over three months ago the title of the public servant in charge of the Ministry for the Arts was changed from Secretary to Director-General. The individual has also changed. The soon to retire, Evan Williams, had been the Humphrey Appleby of the department for many years; but has temporarily assumed the position of Deputy Director-General until Mr. Wilkins finds a suitable individual to take up the post of 2-IC.

 Well, what's in a name, or title?

 Roger Wilkins holds, and will retain the highly influential  position of Director-General of the New South Wales Cabinet Office; he's held the post since 1992. The newly created position of Deputy D-G for Arts is to allow him to maintain the two Directors-Generalship. How much time and interest Mr. Wilkins will devote to his new role remains to be seen. Indeed how much time and interest the Premier, Bob Carr, will allow him in the position is a major concern.

 The report is that Mr. Wilkins, who is an amateur pianist, and is a self-confessed physics and philosophy junky, asked the Premier (and Arts Minister) for the  job because of its "educational aspects…In this country, we have individuals who have achieved a lot in art and culture but I have spent a lot of time in Germany, France, Holland and Belgium and I think that arts can play a more significant role in our society.

 "You don't impose it from the top, you do it through giving kids opportunities, the right educational start. A government can open things up through education, not just for children, but through lifelong education."

 It's going to be interesting to see if the Carr Government will be willing to put significant amounts of resources where Mr. Wilkins mouth is. It's just possible they may.

 What will be equally interesting and could have lasting ramifications is whether or not the Carr Government will engage in dialogue with the Opposition parties in order to allow the Arts Ministry to formulate a long term forward looking bipartisan policy from an educational as well as an overall cultural viewpoint. Certainly Mr. Wilkins' public statement would suggest that's what he is looking for.

 Roger Wilkins' professed interest in fundamental science just might be of consequence as well, at least if he chooses so. New South Wales has no "Ministry for the Sciences" . It has a Minister of Information Technology, Kim Yeadon, but the sciences per se are orphaned. So, for example, the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences in Sydney (aka The Powerhouse Museum) is under the control of the Ministry of the Arts.

 It is an extraordinary situation that there is no such thing as a science portfolio in the most populous of the Australian states. And, just perhaps, now is the time to institute a reorganisation which could have profound effects for not only one Australian state but for the nation. In this particular case perhaps Roger Wilkins might take on whole heartedly the Director-Generalship of a newly formed Ministry of the Arts and Sciences. After all he has been Cabinet D-G for nine years, mightn't it be time for a complete change of responsibility.

Prior to the invention of the term Science our forefathers spoke of Natural Philosophy so perhaps Bob Carr and Roger Wilkins may not think the suggestion without merit, and it would give Mr. Wilkins the excuse to discuss quantum physics, an area of avowed interest, with – quantum physicists.

 

 

Alex Reisner
The Funneled Web