source : the age
What to do with a problem like a Daniel Andrews statue that no one wants any more after you’ve spent $60,000 on it?
It turns out the now-cancelled plan to erect a statue of Andrews has so far led to that amount being paid on a contract worth $134,000.
Premier Ben Carroll revealed the figure on ABC Radio Melbourne late on Monday afternoon.
“Half of the contract has been paid, which is around $60,000, and the design work had commenced,” Carroll said, before blaming former premier Jeff Kennett for the statue stuff-up.
“This was a Liberal Party policy under Jeff Kennett of doing statues of premiers. I believe our statues, particularly on the Labor side of politics, are hospitals and schools.”
He added that having future taxpayer-funded statues of former premiers didn’t pass the pub test.
When Carroll pulled the pin on the divisive project at the weekend, he told reporters he had no idea how advanced the construction of the taxpayer-funded Andrews statue was, so CBD did some digging and discovered design work had started and some casts had been made.
The early stages of the dumped statue project are apparently sitting in pieces in a Fitzroy foundry. CBD has been told by people unauthorised to speak publicly that instructions are yet to be received on the next move for the unloved proposed work of art.
Whether the early design work amounts to a full Dan or is simply a collection of proposed appendages with other bits still to be moulded is unclear. Even the identity of the sculptor remains unclear.
The statue was commissioned by then-premier Jacinta Allan back in March, and when news of its dumping broke, Kennett suggested the statue be recast in honour of US singer Dolly Parton, who died last week. Nice idea.
Shadow federal treasurer Tim Wilson even joined the conversation, telling Nine’s Today show there was serious risk that if the statue did see the light of day it could become a public urinal.
Carroll said that while the Dan plan would be scrapped, the contract to build a statue would not be cancelled and an independent panel would come up with an alternative subject for it. The make-up of that panel is still to be revealed.
Carroll’s decision to axe the Dan monument is part of his move to clean up the PR mess he inherited when he took the reins of the government. Keep swinging that axe, Ben.
‘Franchise’ move by top comic
There were some slick moves by funny guy Anthony “Lehmo” Lehmann on Saturday night, and not just on the dance floor, when he managed to be virtually in two places at once.
Lehmann was a celebrity guest at the My Room charity ball at Crown Palladium but disappeared from his table just after entree, only to return as mains were plated.
In the intervening time he bolted to the NGV to do a stand-up set at the Brainwave charity gala.
Social media revealed his double dip.
CBD is not having a crack. We’re just impressed at the multitasking on show. And he got good laughs at the Brainwave event.
“I’ve franchised myself out,” Lehmann quipped when CBD checked in on his Saturday dinner circuit sprint.
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Fiona Byrne is the CBD columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
