millier's musings

This is my open letter to Minister Garrett and a reply from Lindsay Tanner regarding this issue. I will publish any correspondence I may receive from him.

October 26, 2008

The Honorable Peter Garrett AM, MP
Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives, Parliament House
Canberra, ACT 2600

Dear Minister Garrett,

It is with shock and dismay that I hear of your plans to scrap the Australian National Academy of Music’s funding from 2009. This institution provides the cream of Australia’s young musicians with access to the best mentoring and “on the job training”.

Until the creation of this Academy, this type of post-graduate training could only be achieved by travel overseas, removing young musicians from all-important networks in Australia, not to mention creating extreme financial hardship for them.

Removing them from networks here causes them to “miss the boat” with important early professional engagements and other contacts within the slender opportunities that Australia has for people in this industry.

The publicly funded costs to train an Olympic athlete are astronomical. A conservative estimate is that each gold medal at the Olympics over the past 20 years has cost the taxpayer around 40 million dollars. Apparently, it costs around 2.5 million to fund the entire Australian National Academy of Music for one year! Surely Australia’s young elite music talent deserves the best possible training in order to flourish in what is a fiercely competitive field.

I have been a supporter of ALP policies and philosophy for all of my adult life, and was thrilled at the ALP victory in last year’s Federal election. In this case I fear you are making a grave error of judgment and urge you to reconsider your position on this vital contributor to Australia’s cultural wealth.

I look forward to your considered response to this important question about the future of classical music in Australia.

Sincerely,

Alex Millier
Principal Bass Clarinet
West Australian Symphony Orchestra

Cc Stephen Smith Federal Member for Perth

http://www.petitiononline.com/saveanam/petition.html

Reply from Lindsay Tanner, Federal member for Melbourne and Minister for Finance and Deregulation.

Dear Alex

Lindsay Tanner
____________________________________________________________________________
__
Federal Member for Melbourne | Minister for Finance and Deregulation
lindsay.tanner.mp@aph.gov.au |www.lindsaytanner.com
Canberra: (02) 6277 7400 | (02) 6267 4110 | | Parliament House CANBERRA ACT
2600
Melbourne: (03) 9347 5000 | (03) 9347 1351 | 102 Victoria St CARLTON VIC
3053

—–Original Message—–
From: Alex Millier [mailto:alexmillier@bigpond.com]
Sent: Monday, 27 October 2008 5:21 PM
To: Tanner, Lindsay (MP)
Subject: ANAM cuts

Dear Lindsay

Alex Millier
Principal Bass Clarinet
WA Symphony Orchestra.