Motion Tabled – Call to stop TMAG Cuts

The Hon. Meg Webb MLC tabled the following motion in the Legislative Council on Wednesday 28 October 2026.

The Motion has not yet been debated – stay tuned for that update at a later date!:

I (Ms Webb) give Notice that tomorrow I shall move –

(1) Notes with concern the Tasmanian government’s intention to cut resourcing and staffing of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery      (TMAG) which holds internationally significant natural history collections, including vital educational, interpretative, promotional and senior curatorial roles;

(2) Acknowledges the considerable alarm and disbelief expressed by many in the Tasmanian scientific, cultural history and broader communities in response to the news of the threatened government funding cuts;

(3) Notes the range of urgent representations from local, interstate and international university-based and other professional research institutions expressing significant alarm over the proposed cuts and the impacts they will have on established research projects underway, the health and viability of the TMAG collections, current and future research and capacity, and the reputational damage to Tasmania;

(4) Acknowledges TMAG’s collections management is not a passive administrative task but instead requires skilled and continual high-level research, classification and maintenance;

(5) Notes the government’s intended staffing and resourcing cuts risks jeopardising the integrity of the TMAG collections and public assets, and also endangers:

    (a)The collections’ security and conservation due to inadequate oversight accelerating the physical degradation of vulnerable, unique and           irreplaceable type specimens;

     (b) Current and future research throughput as the absence of dedicated research risks collection stagnation, reduced active loans and                  innovation collaboration, exchanges, and cross-regional biosecurity support;

     (c) Capacity to meet statutory obligations as set out in section 5 ‘Institutional objectives’ of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Act                2017;

     (d) Tasmania’s access to vital skills, knowledge and expertise.

Further, that the Legislative Council notes the motion passed at the Friends of TMAG public meeting of the 8^th of October, and calls on the government to:

(6) Immediately reverse the intended job cuts at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery;

(7) Retain the skilled staff who care for and interpret Tasmania’s TMAG state collections;

(8) Commit to providing TMAG with the secure, long-term funding needed to fulfil its public, cultural, scientific and legal responsibilities; and

(9) Reflect the long-term funding commitment in the 2027-28 state budget and forward estimates.

View text of Meg’s motion as tabled on 28 October 2026 below or as a pdf here:-

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