Also read News Chronologies  for 11 years:2014-2019;  2020; 2021-2022; 2023-2024; 2025
And related links, including our Facebook page, and :
PHM being Destroyed not Saved: 2023 Call to action
For Inquiry into Museums and Galleries webpage: Read more
For the Inquiry Committee’s Two Final Reports: Read more  and media release Read more
For informed research, analysis and opinions, see What the Experts Say: Read more
To read about Museum history and issues with an early Heritage nomination, Read here.
‘Letters to Editors’: for related letters to the editors of newspapers, see the PMA web site, here: Read more

The News Chronologies include reports in newspapers, journals, newsletters, radio and TV,  that draw on announcements, meetings, submissions and proposals of state government, city council and museum management issues about the future of the ‘saved’ Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo, and also its extra new site in Parramatta. Many experienced professional commentators provide critical observations and suggestions.

5-7 SEPTEMBER, 2026
‘Too big to fund, too big to fail: The pitfalls lying in wait for the Powerhouse”
[In print 7 Sept as ‘Financial Inferno Facing Powerhouse’]
In the Sydney Morning Herald, Linda Morris wrotesan extensive summary of the longterm and current issues associated with the development of ‘Powerhouse Parramatta’.
She starts: ‘With or without chief executive Lisa Havilah, the challenges facing the Powerhouse Parramatta are numerous’, and recalls the early history of the museum as a lead-in to the present:
‘ In the early hours of September 22, 1882, a catastrophic inferno consumed the Garden Palace in Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden. Within 40 minutes, its vast timber frame had been reduced to ash. Among the treasures lost were an embryonic collection of Indigenous artefacts, the colony’s 1881 census and vital records documenting early land grants and railway surveys.
From those ashes emerged the institution that would eventually become the Powerhouse Museum. As chief executive, Lisa Havilah often cited that foundational conflagration as she prepared to reinvent the museum on the banks of the Parramatta River – the most consequential and expensive attempt yet to redefine what the institution stood for, little knowing she herself might be scorched in the undertaking.
The allegations that surround Havilah’s departure relate to non-compliance with procurement legislation, regulations, and conflict-of-interest disclosures. While these remain untested, and Havilah may well be exonerated, they raise broader questions around governance and oversight, as well as the level of support Havilah received or the types of guard-rails imposed over her procurement delegations.
As the investigation process takes its course, the task of opening the museum itself now falls to NSW Government Architect Abbie Galvin and former Sydney Opera House chief executive Louise Herron, who must establish a sustainable operational model while also rallying staff to the finish line.
… Without Havilah or with her, the challenges that lie ahead are formidable: to launch western Sydney’s first state-significant cultural institution, redraw Sydney’s cultural geography and fundamentally change how audiences encounter design and the applied arts.
The cost of architectural ambition: Ambition is no sin. But it’s one thing to build a museum. The hardest bit is operating it. Unlike American cultural institutions that rely heavily on private philanthropy, NSW taxpayers will cover the vast majority of the museum’s operational costs. Treasury has set aside a record $145 million this financial year for running costs alone out of a total $256 million budget – far exceeding the operational allocations of the Art Gallery of NSW ($68 million) and the Australian Museum ($69 million) combined. This has not been settled, with the museum board identifying a $50 million funding gap.
Equipped with three gift shops, the Powerhouse has itself been asked to raise $50 million towards the running costs within its first seven months of operations. Even with commercial agility embedded into its design, this remains a steep target for a region lacking a deep tradition of corporate arts philanthropy.
… Many looming financial pressures are self-inflicted. Spending choices – including generous associate artist grants, bespoke residential apartments for visiting scholars, expansive marketing campaigns and a $2 million documentary – have drawn fierce scrutiny during a cost-of-living crisis when smaller arts organisations are struggling to stay afloat.
Substantial costs are embedded in the museum’s operational model and its architectural design. Eyes wide open, both the Perrottet and Minns governments signed off on a tri-campus model that splits the Powerhouse into three separate addresses and effectively establishes three museums instead of one.
… Deakin University’s Andrea Witcomb, a former assistant curator of social history at the Powerhouse, attributed the decline of the 1988 Ultimo site to a slow strangulation of resources – a pattern that could easily repeat itself in Parramatta. “Museums might be monuments for the politicians who fund them – but a museum that is only a monument is not a good museum unless its role is simply to showcase a collection as a tourist icon, like the Louvre. In Australia, their role is far more complex … That requires ongoing investment in staff, new exhibitions, research and industry collaboration. One cheque is not going to cover this.”
READ HERE, and HERE:  SMH 5-7 Sept Linda Morris Pitfalls in wait

6 September, 2026
‘IT WAS NEVER GOING TO ADD UP’
On their expansive Facebook page, Save the Powerhouse campaign group reported on an interview by 2GB radio broadcaster Luke Grant with ‘Kylie Winkworth, museum and heritage expert, former Powerhouse Museum Trustee and Powerhouse Museum Alliance (PMA) member on his 2GB “Weekends” programme.’ They wrote:
‘Listen to the interview on https://omny.fm/shows/2gb-weekends/weekends-with-luke-grant-sunday-6-september-2026 from 1:33:27.
Commenting on the SMH revelation yesterday (5 September) that “the Minns government (was) investigating options to sell the Harwood Building” following the recent stepping aside of the MAAS CEO and COO, Winkworth remarked: “It would not surprise me if the policy was, ‘Let’s not waste a good crisis. Let’s flog the rest of the assets.’”
She continued: “A treasured historic public museum based in Ultimo since 1893, which the Government promised to preserve, renew and keep open, has been demolished. Now they are looking at selling off the museum’s own property, the Harwood Building, which is essential to the operation of the museum – if they have any intention of having a museum at Ultimo. But many of us doubt that.”
The Government promised to build a STEM museum in Parramatta for a total cost of $645 million, including the $140 million they spent purchasing the land. It was going to open in 2023.
The Government has (now) said it is $915 million, including the Castle Hill J-Store and all the exhibitions” and continues to maintain that the project is on budget and will open at the end of 2026.
“But didn’t they know that there was going to be a funding crisis?” Grant asked. Winkworth replied: “Anybody who knows about building would think, ‘If it is four years late, it is not on budget.’ You have to be in La La Land to think that it is on budget. We estimated it at $1.5 billion” (excluding the $500 million the Ultimo “revitalisation” will cost).
She also criticised the fundamental design concept underpinning the Parramatta project: “The whole concept of having multipurpose spaces that actually work for museums and collections is wrong. Everybody knows that when you have to put a museum exhibition into a vast space, it costs more.” ‘
Save the Powerhouse notes that ‘MAAS spent $18 million constructing a temporary steel structure to accommodate its “Task Eternal” opening exhibition in a large volume space in Parramatta. Unfortunately the Ultimo “heritage revitalisation” project is “based on the same flawed model as Parramatta, with only three large volumes particularly designed for performance but not for museum exhibitions.”
“It was never going to add up. YOU CANNOT BUILD A GREAT INSTITUTION FROM A NARRATIVE OF CULTURAL DEPRIVATION,” Winkworth concluded. Well said Kylie!’
READ HERE: Save the P Report Interview Luke Grant &Kylie Winkworth
AND INTERVIEW HERE.

5 September, 2026
‘Secret plan to sell off Powerhouse museum building as budget crisis looms’
Linda Morris writes in the Sydney Morning Herald, about the shocking news that:
‘The Minns government is investigating options to sell the Harwood Building – the saw-tooth-roofed former tram shed housing Powerhouse Museum offices and workshops next door to its Ultimo site – in the latest blow to its flagship billion-dollar museum project.
The potential sale of the 125-year-old building has been raised at the highest levels of government as a $300 million rebuild of the Ultimo museum faces an $80 million budget overrun and an unfunded fit-out. It is the latest challenge to confront the newly installed museum leadership team of Abbie Galvin and Louise Herron as they race to open the museum’s $1 billion Parramatta headquarters, western Sydney’s first state-significant cultural institution, on November 7.
The budget pressure comes after the abrupt departure of its chief executive, Lisa Havilah, who was stood aside one week ago to answer “fresh allegations” regarding procurement and potential conflicts of interest triggered by a protected whistleblower complaint in 2025. Staff have been told that she intends to defend herself from those allegations and that she hopes to return to her role.
Construction began in March to build new commercial creative studios along Harris Street, a “cloister garden” on the forecourt, and to reorient the Ultimo museum’s primary entrance towards the Goods Line facing Haymarket. The build schedule started behind schedule and is running up to two years late. Doors are now not expected to open until early 2029.
The discovery of extensive friable asbestos and lead paint contamination inside the heritage buildings, not detected in standard testing by Powerhouse in 2014, 2019 and 2021, has added $20 million to $30 million to the cost of the rebuild. NSW Treasury is now scrutinising the operating budgets of both Powerhouse Parramatta and Ultimo.
This masthead understands that as part of that review, there is to be a wholesale reconsideration of the $300 million Ultimo rebuild, and even the retention of the site itself, including options to reduce the scope of the redevelopment and its use of materials. However, taking a red pen to the project risks delivering a suboptimal outcome of lower construction quality than the facility it was intended to replace…. Treasurer Daniel Mookhey was said to be furious when advised earlier this year that additional funding would be required to replenish contingencies, to help with clean-up costs and to meet fit-out expectations to ensure the project’s completion.
Public Works is now undertaking a preliminary commercial assessment of the Harwood site’s market value as part of the overarching Treasury review.
The government is required to report on the state of the budget in December, and the Treasury review marks its final opportunity to adjust funding or allocate extra money to the project before entering the pre-election caretaker period ahead of the March state election.
Alternative options could include mothballing the site – incurring significant contractual penalties – or selling the building after bringing it up to current building codes. Arts Minister John Graham is on the public record as promising to “save” the Wran building, named for Labor premier Neville Wran, and which is to be rebuilt. It served as the original entrance to the museum before it was converted into the touring hall.
The Treasury review is also closely examining operational requirements at both museum campuses with an eye to cutting funding for the Parramatta Powerhouse, potentially undermining the original concept championed by Havilah for immersive museum experiences and around-the-clock activations…
… Infrastructure NSW chief executive Tom Gellibrand told parliament that one-third of the $300 million allocated for Ultimo has already been spent. “We have encountered contamination, which is sadly commonplace,” Gellibrand said. “We were predicting that we’d find things like lead paint, but not to the scale and volume that we ultimately encountered.
“In terms of the friable asbestos, we were unable to fully investigate some parts of the museum prior to construction because they were enclosed with plasterboard and other barriers. What we’re doing is working closely with the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences to look at the scope of the project and determine whether modifications to scope or materials can offset those additional costs.”
Graham told budget estimates that while officials are attempting to absorb decontamination costs within the existing budget envelope, completion timeline projections have slipped from 2027 to 2028, and now to early 2029.
The Ultimo rebuild dates to Labor’s 2023 decision to scrap a previous $500 million rebuild proposed by the former Coalition government in favour of a modest “heritage revitalisation” intended to preserve the 1988 Wran Building’s curved roof. The museum has remained closed to the public since February 4, 2024. Scaffolding crews have stripped out internal walls, staircases and mezzanines inside the heritage-listed Boiler House, Engine House, Power House, and Turbine Hall. A sub-basement space for a theatrette has been excavated.
Also gone is the steel-ribbed galleria that previously housed industrial-age relics, such as Locomotive No. 1 and the Boulton & Watt steam engine – both of which are slated to return to Ultimo.
Former curators have long feared the government would backtrack on its election promise to reopen Ultimo as a fully functioning museum. Former trustee Kylie Winkworth said Treasury had ignored repeated warnings of overspending, and the unsustainable cost of the project while a perfectly good public asset could have been brought up to standard without wholesale demolition
Business Sydney executive director Paul Nicolaou said he opposed any potential sale.
“Once a major public cultural asset is sold, it is extremely difficult and impossible to get it back. The government should recognise the Powerhouse’s broader economic contribution rather than viewing the site simply as a property asset,” he said. “Business Sydney strongly supports investment in both the Powerhouse at Ultimo and the new Parramatta. We want to see both sites succeed and work together.”
While Graham remains publicly committed to keeping Ultimo dedicated to museum spaces, he may face severe pushback from cabinet colleagues seeking commercial returns or a balanced budget. In 2020, the Heritage Council refused to consider a new heritage nomination for the complete Powerhouse site, leaving the Harwood Building vulnerable to commercial development.
… Heritage experts say the Harwood Building remains an indivisible part of the Powerhouse Museum complex in terms of historical significance and site context and its ongoing museum functions.
Built in 1899 as Sydney’s first electric tram depot, it was co-located with the power house specifically to power the city’s expanding tram network. Under former Coalition arts minister Don Harwin, senior bureaucrats had previously considered plans to redevelop the Harwood site into a commercial lyric theatre.
READ HERE, and HERE: SMH 5 Sept Linda Morris

SERIOUS RESPONSE FROM PM ALLIANCE:
‘Those of us who worked over many years at the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo, are VERY AWARE of the need to maintain the Harwood building, which provided accessible adjacent working spaces for offices (for curators, registrars, conservators, archivists, editors and others); and related workshops for many necessary activities, (including photographers, IT and audio specialists); as well as spaces for exhibition design and development, collection and archival storage – and MANY MORE professional activities!
If the Harwood building is not to be accessible, these space requirements will have to evolve in the main exhibition building – where already the exhibition space has been reduced by 75%! It will NOT BE the Museum we remember so well!’ (Grace Cochrane, PMA web editor)

LETTERS  September 6, 2026 (In print 7 Sept)
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
Following: Linda Morris ‘ “Secret plan to sell off Powerhouse building”, September 5, the SMH published a full page of nine letters contributing significant comments about decisions being made, under the heading: ‘The Powerhouse Museum has been failed by broken promises’. See examples here, and read more attached:

‘The Powerhouse Museum has been failed by broken promises’
Linda Morris unravels years of backroom deals regarding the Powerhouse Museum (“Secret plan to sell off Powerhouse building”, September 5), reporting that “A government spokesman said Labor was committed to the Powerhouse Museum, including the Wran Building’s reopening in Ultimo.” The promise made by Arts Minister John Graham in March 2023, that the Powerhouse Museum was to be revitalised for $300 million, was never going to happen. It has also been confirmed that the interior of the old Powerhouse is now just an empty shell. What appears to have been swept under the carpet is that after 2020, when the Powerhouse was “saved”, millions were spent by the previous government in converting the Discovery Centre in Castle Hill into a mega-warehouse. Its purpose, to absorb the objects in the Powerhouse Museum, including the contents of the Harwood Building. A long time ago, the backroom declared that the Harwood Building had no historic significance and will eventually be not fit for purpose. Is it any wonder that, as Morris’ article reports, “Public Works is now undertaking a preliminary commercial assessment of the Harwood site’s market value”?  Garry Horvai, Pennant Hills

How are we back to this stage, where once again they’re looking into selling of parts of the Powerhouse? Experts warned the government for years and years that this plan was going to be a costly disaster. Now the museum lies in ruins, stripped of its heritage and iconic features, and once again there’s talk of a sell-off. Sacking the executives is too little too late, unless these sackings are just the government giving the public someone to blame. To fulfil the election promise to save the Powerhouse, that needed to have been done as soon as the government got in. Was it just demolition by stealth all along? Thomas Walder, Cherrybrook

The community should not have to suffer because of mismanagement and overreach by Powerhouse Museum overseers. The Harwood building is essential to the heritage values of the Ultimo site. It’s time to strip back the expensive and unnecessary artist studios and accommodation to bring us a museum filled with design and technology collections, interactives and ideas. Judith Coombes, Lilyfield
READ MORE HERE, and HERE: Letters SMH Broken Promises 6 Sept

2 September, 2026
BUDGET ESTIMATE HEARING UNVEILS YEARS OF SUPERVISION INACTION
PMA’s very active colleagues, Save the Powerhouse, ‘a community campaign to keep the Museum in Ultimo for Applied Arts & Sciences’, has again summarised recent issues, and distributed their comments through mailouts and Facebook. They wrote:
‘The NSW Government launched an advertising blitz to announce the opening of the “Parramatta Milkcrate”, its “Opera House of the West”, planned for 7 November 2026.
It finally attracted far more media attention than they ever expected…but for all the wrong reasons. It follows the abrupt stepping aside of MAAS CEO Lisa Havilah on 27 August, “pending investigations into governance and procurement.”
In just five days, we found at least 15 articles on this subject across some of Australia’s most respected media outlets…, although perhaps not quite the kind of publicity the NSW Government had hoped for. Most of the articles focus on the same pressing questions:
–       Why did it take so long for action to be taken after the NSW Government was alerted by a whistle-blower in March 2025?
–       Why has the CEO stepped aside only on 27 August 2026, just over two months before the planned grand opening of the Parramatta project?
–       And, generally, who knew what? And when?
The Upper House Portfolio Committee No.6 (Transport and the Arts) had similar questions when they grilled John Graham, Special Minister of State, Minister for Transport, Minister for the Arts, and Minister for Music and the Night-time Economy during their budget estimates hearing session of 31 August. ‘

After supplying a link to the Budget Hearing Transcript, read  HERE , Save the Powerhouse continued:
‘So what did we learn on 31 August? (transcript page 8)
–       That the Minister “became aware of the governance and procurement matters now being investigated at the Powerhouse” before 2023.
–       That in March 2025 he “approved and delegated authority to DCITHS (the Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport headed by Secretary Melanie Hawyes) to progress a fact-finding assessment” and that “there was also, at that time, a referral to ICAC.”
–       That DCITHS finalised their fact-finding report and “in late December 2025 (the Minister) approved the agency conducting a formal misconduct investigation. (page 8)
The fact-finding report is not public and it is not known whether ICAC is investigating.
–       That DCITHS “engaged Lander and Rogers, a Sydney-based law firm early in 2026 whose “misconduct investigation is ongoing.”
–        That “in April, July and August, a range of (new) allegations were put to a number of Powerhouse executives (which) is the matter that has led to the recent changes” (i.e. the CEO stepping aside).
–       That “last Thursday (27 August) Ms Havilah and (Agency Secretary Melanie Hawyes) had a conversation about further allegations that had come to light” and that “on that basis, (they) agreed that it would be appropriate for her to step aside.”
–       That the COO (it is unclear whether the Minister refers to the “historical” Chief Operating Officer Mark Weldon or to Treasury executive Cassandra Wilkinson who has temporarily replaced him since the end of July?) “is also providing significant information as a part of this process.”
But the Minister insists that the CEO and COO temporary replacements are unrelated matters….
In summary, issues were identified “before 2023” but are still under investigation four years later.
The contract for the destructive “Powerhouse Museum Ultimo Revitalisation” was awarded in June 2025, two and a half years after the Trust and the Minister, both in charge of supervising the organisation’s management, were made aware that major
This was also a time when we, with many others including the Public Service Association of NSW (PSA) spoke of the problems. Due diligence could easily have preserved the Wran heritage (Wran building and Galleria) in Ultimo and saved the NSW taxpayers hundreds of millions.
Save the Powerhouse respects DCITHS Secretary’s position that “the interim arrangements put in place should not be taken as any sort of sense of a sanction or a finding. These allegations that have come to light need to be tested, and that is what this investigation will do” she said (page 9), everybody is “innocent until proven guilty.” We simply wonder why this investigation takes so long.
Regardless of what the findings will be, “Save” does not believe Havilah should be allowed to become the only scapegoat for what is, in reality, a collective failure of governance (refer to our previous post “Havilah stands aside, but the scandal runs far deeper”).
We also believe that, although “governance and procurement” are important issues, the current investigation is missing the main point: How the transformation of a respected, world-class Applied Arts and Science Museum into two inferior function/entertainment centres at an astronomical cost of around $2 billion to NSW taxpayers has ever been allowed to happen? Irreplaceable heritage in Ultimo and Parramatta has also been destroyed in the process.
It is also obvious that the concerns about the “Milkcrate” financial operational sustainability which we, with many others, have raised for years, have finally caused the Treasurer to intervene. … And what about the TRUE Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo which the Arts Minister promised at first “to keep open”, then closed it but “only” for a maximum period of 3 years? (page 24)
…. ARE WE TO BELIEVE ANY OF THIS MINISTER’S PROMISES AGAIN?
Finally, in our previous post (29 August, below) we asked “Who else (apart from the CEO) must answer for the Powerhouse debacle?” We listed the successive Governments and Arts Ministers, the Treasurer and the MASS board of Trustees but should add an essential actor of the Wran heritage destruction: The Heritage Council of NSW and its supervising Minister, Penny Sharpe, Minister for Climate Change, Energy, Heritage and the Environment. They choreographed a 2-stage listing of the “Powerhouse Museum Complex” on the state heritage list in July 2024.
The listing seemed to include the protection of the Wran heritage (Wran Building and Galleria) but in fact allowed its entire demolition with 13 exemptions introduced at the last minute.’
READ HERE:  Save the P Supervision Inaction 2 Sept

Monday 31 August 2026
NSW Govt Budget Estimates 2026-2027
Examination of proposed expenditure for the NSW Legislative Council Portfolio Committees.
PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE NO. 6 – TRANSPORT AND THE ARTS,
SPECIAL MINISTER OF STATE, TRANSPORT, ARTS, MUSIC AND THE NIGHT-TIME ECONOMY
For the Transcript of interviews with Minister John Graham, in the Day 10 Budget Hearing about the Powerhouse Museum, chaired by Ms Cate Faehrmann, and Hon. Mark Banasiak (Deputy Chair)
Go to pages 1-11, and 22 -27:  READ HERE: Transcript – UNCORRECTED – PC6 (Graham) – Budget Estimates 2026-2027 – 31 August 2026

FOLLOWING NEWS REPORTS:
Following the Budget Hearings of 31 August, a number of news reports have summarised and commented on Minister John Graham’s responses to the hearing inquiry, mainly about questionable costs of the development, marketing and forthcoming opening of the Powerhouse (Museum) in Parramatta.
They also supply references to earlier issues over nearly a decade of the controversial decision to move the museum to the city West.

This PMA web commenter, (Grace Cochrane), wants to add:
‘It is very informative to hear and read discussions about extensive costs, and related staff stepping down, because it was a Budget hearing. However, a critical issue throughout has been the need to consider CONTENT as much as COST! The Museum is unique state-wide and nationally in its integration (applied arts and design) of technology, transport, industry, decorative arts and design, and their related social histories. Parramatta has always needed its own locally-focused museum – and it is not appropriate to transfer such a state museum, and adapt it in the way it appears to be occurring with minimal collection-based CONTENT, while the future program of the largely now damaged Ultimo site is still a mystery!
This issue needs to be a serious focus for whoever replaces the recent management staff, and government decision-makers.’

1 September:
‘Powerhouse execs’ alleged misconduct’
Linda Morris, in a front page story in the Sydney Morning Herald, wrote that:
‘ A formal misconduct investigation is under way into “serious” allegations involving two executives of the Powerhouse Museum, NSW Arts Minister John Graham has disclosed, as he defended his oversight of the billion-dollar project following the sudden departure of the museum’s chief executive.’…’ Graham revealed that the Department of Creative Industries, Tourism and Hospitality had referred undisclosed matters to the ICAC in March 2025, at the same time as the department had launched a “fact-finding investigation” over “multiple concerns” raised in a protected whistleblower complaint. After the finalisation of a fact-finding inquiry last December, Sydney-based law firm Lander and Rogers had been engaged to supervise a formal misconduct investigation this year.’…  ‘Asked by Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party’s Mark Banasiak why he had appeared to ignore issues he had raised in parliament since 2023, Graham conceded that he had been aware of broad issues, some of which were found to be “wildly inaccurate”, some of which had been individually dealt with.’ [Somewhat controversially for professional museum supporters], Graham concluded that: ‘He backed museum board president David Borger and his fellow trustees, saying they had played a “constructive role” and had been of assistance to government’s ongoing investigation.’
READ HERE: and HERE: Linda Morris SMH 1 Sept

1 September:
‘Powerhouse Move is a tale too typical’
The Editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald, commented that: ‘NSW Arts Minister John Graham certainly hit the nail on the head when he told a parliamentary budget estimates committee on Monday that the Powerhouse Museum in Parramatta was “the Opera House of the west”. He was speaking of his hope the new museum would open on schedule in November but inadvertently reminded MPs with a sense of history of the problems, financial blowouts, political controversies and key staff departures that bedevilled the Sydney Opera House ….’
‘The $80 million Powerhouse Museum opened in Ultimo as part of 1988 Bicentenary celebrations but by 2014, falling attendances – a consequence of massive staff cutbacks under previous Labor governments – prompted the Baird government to discuss shifting the Powerhouse to Parramatta.… Parramatta beckoned as an apposite site for a politically shiny new museum in western Sydney.
Yet what began as a drive for cultural equity rapidly devolved into a bitter political battle over location, heritage, architecture and political ownership. A culture war erupted, forcing the Berejiklian government to back away from selling Ultimo to fund Parramatta.
… Questions remain about the business case for the entire project. As it stands, with little clarity about the fate of the Ultimo site, NSW taxpayers would be right in wondering why they have been left with one museum costing the price of three.’
READ HERE, and HERE: Editorial SMH 1 Sept

31 August:
‘Powerhouse referred to ICAC over misconduct allegations’
Michael Bailey, in the Australian Financial Review, wrote that: ‘Powerhouse Museum executives are being investigated over alleged  misconduct around governance and procurement, just two months before the cultural institution opens its $915 million flagship in Parramatta. NSW Arts Minister John Graham confirmed to budget estimates on Monday that Sydney law firm Lander & Rogers is conducting a formal misconduct investigation into serious allegations against “a number of executives” at Powerhouse…. On Monday, Graham confirmed the catalyst for the investigation was a protected whistleblower complaint made to NSW’s Department of Creative Industries in March 2025. The content of the complaint is not public, but the minister did not refute remarks from other MPs at the estimates hearing that they related to allegations of cronyism and conflicts of interest.
Following a departmental review, Graham said he considered the allegations serious enough to refer to ICAC last year, and hired Lander & Rogers to investigate them in April. Graham stressed to estimates that “a complaint is not a finding or a fact”, and that the investigation continued.’
READ HERE, and HERE: AFR Powerhouse to ICAC 31 Aug

1 September:
‘Museum claims sent to ICAC a year ago’
Tim Douglas wrote in The Australian that ‘Allegations of misconduct at the Powerhouse Museum were referred to the Independent Commission Against Corruption, more than a year before the institution’s chief executive Lisa Havilah and chief operating officer Mark Wilsdon stepped aside on full pay amid “multipole’ investigation and procurement practices.  The revelations were made on Monday when NSW Arts Minister John Graham appeared before a NSW budget estimates hearing.’
Read more here about responses to questions from Graham, and secretary of NSW Department of Creative Industries, Melanie Hawyes. READ HERE, and HERE : PHM The Australian 1st Sept 2026 ICAC Havilah 1 Sept2026

——————

31 August, 2026
‘Pressure builds on board, minister as Powerhouse contract goes to company of former trustee’
Related to many issues raised in the news reports in August 27, 28, 29, below, Linda Morris reported in the Sydney Morning Herald that:‘Arts Minister John Graham and Department of Creative Industries, Tourism and Hospitality secretary Melanie Hawyes will be under pressure at Monday’s [31 August] budget estimates committee to explain their role in Havilah standing aside, the adequacy of their response to complaints of procurement issues and their oversight of the museum’s preopening spending, which is expected to surpass $100 million, inclusive of the $70 million cost of its five opening exhibitions.’
Morris referred to a range of extensive costs associated with the opening of ‘Powerhouse Parramatta’ including: ‘Powerhouse Museum awarded an uncontested $2 million marketing contract to a boutique agency co-founded by a former board trustee, part of more than $5 million spent on drumming up publicity before the opening of its landmark Parramatta site. The bespoke agency, Ki Community, was appointed by former chief executive Lisa Havilah, who abruptly departed the billion-dollar project two months before the November 7 opening of western Sydney’s first state significant cultural institution.’
… ‘Graham wrote to the board of trustees on June 15, outlining his expectations that the project be delivered on time, on budget and fully compliant with procurement policies that delivered value for money for taxpayers. He called for the board’s co-operation in a Treasury review of the Ultimo and Parramatta projects. He said a review initiated by the department had identified “deficiencies” with three major contracts, and that security and catering needed to be “reconsidered”. …‘Ki Community was founded by Mark Hassell, Graeme Wills, who headed Mojo Australia and is described as the company’s visionary force, and Michael Dole. Hassell was a trustee for four years before departing in December 2024 in a board refresh in which Borger, a business lobbyist and former Labor minister, was appointed president. Hassell has denied any conflict of interest, saying he was not involved in the tender or the delivery of the communications project and that the company had made a declaration to that effect to the museum as part of due process…. Relations between Powerhouse staff and the representatives of Ki Community have deteriorated due to frustration and disagreement over strategy and delivery.’‘…As well as Ki Community’s $2 million contract, Sydney-based specialist arts agency Articulate is being paid $288,718 plus expenses for strategic public relations and communications services, and London’s Bolton & Quinn is being paid $275,000 for international public and media relations. The Powerhouse commissioned a $1.7 million-plus documentary about the new building’s construction and design for television and cinematic release. Borger told the Herald the board had not endorsed the marketing contract when it was brought to it in May. He said the contract had fallen within the chief executive officer’s delegations.’
For further detailed information about the issues discussed regarding costs of external contracts for museum marketing, READ HERE, and HERE: SMH Linda Morris 31 Aug
TO FOLLOW SOON: In the Government’s Budget Estimates hearings this week, the Powerhouse Hearing Schedule started this morning, 31 August 2026, in Parliament House, Sydney. Chaired by Ms Cate Faehrmann (Chair) with The Hon. Mark Banasiak (Deputy Chair) of Portfolio Committee No 6,  they interviewed Special Minister of State, Transport, Arts, Music and the Night-time Economy (Graham) about costs and management associated with recent events at the Powerhouse Museum: Portfolio Committee No. 6 – Transport and the Arts – Inquiry page

27, 28, 29  August, 2026
CEO steps down: Surprising, and possibly constructive, change to Powerhouse Museum management

In a significant statement on 27 August, the NSW Arts Minister, John Graham, announced that: ‘Western Sydney’s first ever Cultural Institution, Powerhouse Parramatta, is on track for opening on 7 November 2026. With the landmark project entering its final stages, the NSW Government is announcing interim arrangements that will guide the organisation from 1 September. Following new allegations, the Chief Executive [Lisa Havilah] has stood aside while investigations into governance and procurement are finalised. The interim team comprises: Abbie Galvin, interim Chief Executive… and Louise Herron AM, Strategic Advisor…  David Borger, President, the Powerhouse Trust and the Powerhouse Trustees will continue to support the leadership team and ensure continued focus on Western Sydney and organisational continuity.’
A related message by Melanie Haynes, secretary to the Department of Creative Industries, was then distributed to Powerhouse Museum staff and colleagues – and then to wider concerned audiences – with an announcement that: ‘As you would be aware from recent media reports, there is an ongoing investigation into matters relating to governance and procurement practices at the Powerhouse. After speaking with the Chief Executive earlier today, Lisa Havilah will be standing aside while the investigation is completed.’
Following this surprising announcement, that the CEO of the Museum then stepped aside, many well-informed journalists summarised the decade-long background to this decision.
AND WHO WILL THE NEXT CEO BE?

Articles filed here include those by Linda Morris, John McDonald, Tim Douglas, Elizabeth Fortescue and the ABC, and many further comments have been made by concerned organisations, including our Powerhouse Museum Alliance (PMA), Save the Powerhouse Museum and the North Parramatta Residents Action Group (NPRAG).

 OPEN FILES BELOW, TO READ VERY DETAILED INFORMATION:

27 August:
Ministerial statement; Powerhouse Museum leadership update
READ HERE, and HERE: Ministers statement Havilah 27 August 

27 August:
Message from the Secretary – Powerhouse leadership update
‘I am writing on behalf of myself and David Borger, President of the Powerhouse Trust, to share an update about the leadership of the Powerhouse..’
Read HERE, and HERE: Melanie Hawyes govt announcement 27 Aug

27 August:
‘Powerhouse Parramatta chief Lisa Havilah departs just weeks from opening’
In  the Sydney Morning Herald, Linda Morris, Anthony Segaert and Mostafa Rachwani expand on details, including:
‘The opening of the billion-dollar Powerhouse Parramatta has been plunged into controversy after its chief executive stepped down 72 days before the opening of the state’s biggest cultural infrastructure investment since the Sydney Opera House.
In a shock development, staff were alerted on Thursday afternoon that Lisa Havilah had stood aside from her role of seven years pending completion of a departmental investigation into “governance and procurement practices”.
rce of the Powerhouse Parramatta since her appointment in 2019. The project aims to deliver western Sydney its first state-significant cultural institution, while redrawing Sydney’s cultural geography, and fundamentally changing how audiences encounter design, technology, and applied arts. But the new building has been bedevilled by political controversy over budget, location and heritage for more than a decade.’
A protected whistleblower complaint around procurement practices and job appointments at the Powerhouse has been ongoing for almost a year, leading the Department of Creative Industries and Tourism to seek assurances from NSW Procurement in Treasury in March about the tender of museum contracts.
…’ The Herald understands the museum’s board of trustees met two weeks ago to consider procurement issues at Parramatta. The museum’s executive was told at 2.30pm Thursday.
Public Service Association of NSW, representing staff, has written repeatedly to Arts Minister John Graham about the “excessive use of external labour and consultants”, and urged an independent financial audit of the spending and recruitment methods used by senior management at the Powerhouse.
Former museum trustee Kylie Winkworth accused Graham and Powerhouse board chair David Borger of ignoring multiple complaints of mismanagement and waste, which were “documented and footnoted. I never got a reply.”. ‘
Read HERE, and HERE: Linda Morris SMH 27 August

27 August:
‘Powerhouse Parramatta CEO Lisa Havilah steps aside ahead of grand opening’
Nabil Al-Nashar wrote for ABC’s news: ‘Powerhouse Parramatta CEO Lisa Havilah has stepped aside 10 weeks before the cultural institution opens in Western Sydney. The decision was announced in a statement from the office of Minister for Arts John Graham on Thursday, which said she had stood aside while “investigations into governance and procurement” were underway. In a statement to the ABC, a spokesperson for the Department of Creative Industries said the matters were “complex and involve multiple lines of inquiry”.”The Department has a responsibility to address these matters with due diligence and procedural fairness,” the spokesperson said.
Ms Havilah has been the chief executive of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS) for more than seven years and previously oversaw the significant expansion of the Carriageworks multi-arts hub in Redfern.
But in March this year, Ms Havilah was grilled over “budget blowouts” for the Powerhouse Parramatta by upper house MP Chris Rath.
“I know there have been budget blowouts from years and years gone by, but are we expecting any further cost blowouts from the relocation, or has it all basically been accounted for now in the budget?” he said.
Read HERE, and HERE: ABC 27 August 2026 Havilah

31 August, 2026
‘Misconduct investigation underway into two Powerhouse Museum senior executives’
Nabil Al-Nashar continued his observations in writing for ABC news, ‘The NSW arts minister has confirmed at a budget estimates hearing that two Powerhouse Museum senior executives are under investigation. He told the hearing, the probe had started as early as last year.
The government has not detailed the allegations against the pair. Arts Minister John Graham has revealed Powerhouse Museum’s two most senior executives are part of a NSW government misconduct investigation.
Upheaval at Western Sydney’s first cultural institution in Parramatta saw its CEO Lisa Havilah step aside last week. In July, the Powerhouse Museum’s chief operating officer (COO), Mark Wilsdon, was also replaced by a government official. … Under questioning at budget estimates on Monday, Mr Graham said the government began investigating Powerhouse Parramatta as early as last year.
“In March 2025, I approved and delegated authority to DCITHS [Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport] to progress a fact-finding assessment,” he said.
“There was also at the time a referral to ICAC [Independent Commission Against Corruption] and we’re quite cautious anything is referred on.
“That fact-finding report was finalised and in late December 2025, I approved the agency conducting a formal misconduct investigation.
“In April, July and August a range of allegations were put to a number of Powerhouse executives. That misconduct investigation is ongoing. That is the matter that has led to the recent changes.”
The government has not detailed the allegations against the senior executives.
… Mr Graham was also quizzed by Greens MP Cate Faehrmann about president of the board of trustees at Powerhouse, David Borger’s relationship with former board member turned Powerhouse contractor Mark Hassell. “Minister were you aware of David Borger’s relationship with Mark Hassell who’s one of the people behind the company Ki Community?” Ms Faehrmann
asked. “He was given a tour by David Borger of the Parramatta House in the first half of 2025.”

…  The ABC contacted Ki Community and Mr Hassell for comment. …When asked by Ms Faehrmann if he had full confidence in Mr Borger and the board, the minister defended both. “Yes I do and I have confidence in the board as well. I do believe they have performed their functions appropriately,” he said. Mr Borger had previously said that the board had raised concerns about Ki Community’s contract with the Powerhouse as a conflict of interest.
He also said that the board did not endorse the CEO’s decision to approve the contract.
Mr Graham confirmed the project was still on budget and on time, with November 7 set for its opening.’ READ HERE: and HERE:  ABC 31 August

27 August:
‘Powerhouse shock: CEO departs before opening’
Writing for Parra News, Troy Dodds wrote: ‘Havilah has stood aside from her role following “new allegations”, the State Government has confirmed. Havilah has been in the role for seven years and has overseen the building of the major new museum that will open in November. She is facing departmental investigations into “governance and procurement practices”.
“Following new allegations, the Chief Executive has stood aside while investigations into governance and procurement are finalised,” Arts Minister John Graham said.
NSW Government Architect Abbie Galvin will step into the role as Interim Chief Executive, while former Opera House CEO Louse Herron will join Powerhouse as a Strategic Advisor. “I would like to thank the Powerhouse team for getting us to this point in the delivery of the Powerhouse Parramatta, the largest and most complex cultural infrastructure project since the Sydney Opera House,” Graham said.
Read HERE, and HERE: Parra News Troy Dodds re Havialh 27 Aug 

27 August:
‘Chief executive of Sydney’s anticipated Parramatta Powerhouse museum steps down two months before grand opening’
In the Art Newspaper, Elizabeth Fortescue documents that: ‘Lisa Havilah had stood aside pending  “investigations into governance and procurement”, according to New South Wales’ arts minister.’ … ’Crisis has engulfed Sydney’s major, A$915m museum project Powerhouse Parramatta, with its chief executive officer Lisa Havilah stepping aside just over two months before the official opening. The arts minister for New South Wales (NSW), John Graham, announced today (27 August) that Havilah had stood aside pending “investigations into governance and procurement” at the Powerhouse.
Powerhouse Paramatta has been touted as the biggest cultural infrastructure development in New South Wales since the Sydney Opera House opened in 1973. When completed it will be the largest museum ever built in the state. David Borger, the president of the Powerhouse Trust, told the Australian Broadcasting Commission that the museum would still open as planned on 7 November. A major community day will be held, with a special ribbon-cutting and access to all five of the museum’s ambitious new exhibitions, including Task Eternal, which is about space travel.’
‘Powerhouse staff learned of Havilah’s departure via an email on Thursday (27 Aug) from Melanie Hawyes, the secretary of the Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport. “As you would be aware from recent media reports, there is an ongoing investigation into matters relating to governance and procurement practices at the Powerhouse,” Hawyes wrote. “After speaking with the chief executive earlier today, Lisa Havilah will be standing aside while the investigation is completed.” ‘
Considering the next steps, Fortescue noted that: ‘Lisa Havilah joined the Powerhouse in 2018 following a seven-year stint as the chief executive officer of Carriageworks, the Sydney arts precinct. The Powerhouse project will now be led by the NSW government architect Abbie Galvin, who will step in as chief executive officer, and former Sydney Opera House chief executive officer Louise Herron as strategic advisor. The NSW Treasury executive Cassandra Wilkinson was appointed as the Powerhouse’s chief operating officer in July after the Powerhouse was criticised for spending more than A$70 million in the lead-up to the grand opening in November…. A Sydney Morning Herald investigation has reported that the Powerhouse spent large sums in a number of areas. This includes A$10 million on LED screens, staging and backdrop for an immersive experience created by the British artist Es Devlin.
An “artistic consultants” programme costing A$2.6 million in which numerous creative professionals were hired to help develop projects at the Powerhouse was axed earlier this year.’ READ HERE: PHM The Art Newspaper Fortescue 27 August 2026

28 August:
‘There is a God’
Art critic John McDonald wrote In (no #641) on his regular on-line newsletter ‘Everything the artworld doesn’t want you to know’ ; [ jmcdartcritic+newsletter@substack.com ] that: 
‘…at 3 pm today I received a piece of news that set me back on my heels. “Havilah gone!” was the title of the email sent …After seven painful years, in which we’ve seen the systematic destruction of the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo, the relocation of a priceless collection to a glorified depot in Castle Hill, and the construction of a monumental white elephant in Parramatta that nobody actually wanted, Lisa Havilah had come to believe that her role as Powerhouse CEO allowed her to realise her wildest dreams. The signs of being drunk with power were already there in 2023, when Havilah gave a notorious speech in Adelaide, called Unmaking the Institution…
Under the wise and benevolent gaze of Arts Minster, John Graham, Havilah felt she could do whatever she liked. If this meant sidelining the museum’s longterm curators and hiring a group of completely unqualified people, that was fine. If it was a matter of handing millions of dollars to “associates” with whom she had already declared conflicts of interest, that was OK too.’…
McDonald described in detail many of the outstanding costs of development and projects, where: ‘The money had to be found somewhere, and John Graham’s Ministry of the Arts obligingly diverted funds from arts projects and organisations all over NSW…’  ‘ Now, only ten weeks before the projected opening on 7 November, the government has pulled the plug. Lisa Havilah has been sidelined by a long overdue investigation into “governance and procurement practices”, following a whistleblower’s report that is already a year old. Whether she has stepped down voluntarily or been stood down, is a question that remains to be answered.
…’ To be stood down 10 weeks in advance of the opening is cataclysmic. It’s hard to believe that the government, having gone this far with Havilah’s spendthrift ways, would not try to ease her out in a discreet manner if only to save face. Instead, she has copped the shame and ignominy of being stood down, facing an investigation that could surely have been delayed until next year, if not indefinitely.
This is a blow from which the CEO’s reputation will never recover. Even if she were cleared of wrongdoing, and – gasp! – reinstated, the fact of being dumped in advance of the opening is a measure of how low she has fallen in the eyes of the government. Instead of letting the Empress take a victory lap, they have deliberately cancelled her coronation, even at risk of embarrassment to themselves. It also suggests the seriousness of those charges which need to be refuted.
The tragedy is that the damage to the Powerhouse Museum is already done. The government has demolished the building in Ultimo, has built a billion-dollar milk crate in Parramatta, and destroyed the entire structure of a major cultural asset….
‘…When it comes to Minister, John Graham, the responsibility is even more obvious. Mr. Graham has defended his CEO to the media and in parliamentary committees for years. Labor was elected on a promise to fix the Powerhouse disaster and has only made matters worse – much worse. Any failure on Havilah’s part is an even greater failure on Graham’s. If Havilah goes down, the Minister stands revealed as her chief enabler, who has refused to listen to expert advice or public petitions. At every stage the smiling Mr. Graham has invested in Havilah’s “vision” and should accept his share of the blame….
‘To end on a high note, I’ve been amazed at the number of texts and emails I’ve received, rejoicing at the news of Havilah’s fall from grace. It’s a festival atmosphere among those who have worked long and hard to expose her outrageous behaviour, let alone those poor slaves who have suffered under her heel, as she stuffed the institution with well-paid sycophants with no museum experience whatsoever. The damage has been done, and it’s probably irreparable, but there’s a huge sense of relief that the scales of justice have finally begun to tip in the right direction. For NSW, the embarrassment is unavoidable. What’s most important now is how we manage to claw back some vestige of credibility.’
READ HERE:  John McDonald 28 August 

28 August:
‘Powerhouse Parramatta was meant to reshape Sydney’s cultural map. Now its leadership is under scrutiny’
Samuel Cairnduff wrote in The Conversation journal, wrote that: ‘…What can we read into Havilah’s departure? A protected disclosure initiates a process, not a finding. Havilah’s standing aside is likewise neither a finding against her, nor an admission of responsibility.
The timing is nevertheless extraordinary, and says something about cultural leadership itself: a leader bound this closely to a project’s vision is rarely more exposed than in the weeks before the public judges it.
Havilah is withdrawing just before the opening of an institution born of a decade of political conflict, heritage campaigning, and argument over Western Sydney’s cultural future.’
‘…That argument began in 2015, when the government announced the Powerhouse would leave Ultimo, its home since 1988, for Parramatta. This was part of a longstanding push to correct Sydney’s concentration of major cultural institutions around Circular Quay and the CBD.
The project was framed as more than relocation; redistributing cultural capital to Western Sydney would also help drive urban regeneration.
The former government of Gladys Berejiklian reversed course in 2020, keeping the Ultimo museum while still proceeding with the new Parramatta development.
At Parramatta, the 2021 dismantling of Willow Grove, a 19th-century heritage villa on the site, drew sustained heritage campaigning and a union green ban, with construction workers refusing to work on the site in support of the heritage campaign. Representatives of the Dharug Strategic Management Group, representing the area’s Traditional Custodians, argued they had been consulted only after key decisions were effectively made.
What began as an argument about where a museum should be became an argument about who has the authority to decide.
Havilah arrived in 2019 after that relocation fight was underway. She pressed a further question of her own: not just where a museum should sit, but what it should be.’
‘…The institution Havilah reimagined is about to open without her. She has said she still intends to attend, watching from the crowd rather than leading the ceremony.
The investigation must reach its conclusion. But Havilah’s stepping aside leaves an immediate question: can an institution built so closely around one leader’s vision establish its own legitimacy in her absence?’
READ HERE: and HERE: Havilah in Conversation 28 Aug

28 August:
WE’VE KNOWN ALL ALONG – WESTERN SYDNEY DESERVES A REAL MUSEUM
In their Facebook entry the North Parramatta Residents Action Group – NPRAG, (HERE: North Parramatta Residents Action Group – NPRAG ) comments on the discussion in the Conversation journal above. They say (with comments following):
‘For years, we have raised concerns that what was being delivered at Powerhouse Parramatta was never going to be the major collecting and exhibiting museum Western Sydney was promised and so desperately needs. Instead, after the demolition of Willow Grove and enormous expenditure of public money, Parramatta appears to be ending up with what increasingly resembles an over-budget events and convention centre with some exhibition space attached.
This article raises yet more serious questions about the direction and leadership of Powerhouse Parramatta. So when will governments actually listen to the people of Western Sydney? Parramatta has an extraordinary opportunity to create something genuinely significant: a Museum of New South Wales, telling the stories of our state from First Nations history through colonisation, migration, industry, social history and the making of modern NSW. And where better than in the historic heart of Parramatta — at the Parramatta Female Factory and Institutions Precinct, a 26-hectare National Heritage-listed site with extraordinary potential and a history worthy of World Heritage recognition? Rather than continuing to pour money into a project that has moved further and further away from the museum Western Sydney was promised, it is time to invest in a cultural institution with collections, history and place at its heart. Western Sydney deserves a museum. Parramatta deserves a museum. And our nationally significant Female Factory precinct deserves a future worthy of its history. It’s time they listened. READ HERE:  North Parramatta Residents Action Group

29 August:
‘The inside story of the day that shook Sydney’s museum world’
In the Sydney Morning Herald, Linda Morris provides further background to her former report, starting with: ‘The departure of chief executive Lisa Havilah was sudden, and it shocked even her critics.’…Ahe continued: ’ It was just two months until the highly anticipated November 7 opening of Powerhouse Parramatta, and its highly driven chief executive Lisa Havilah might have thought the hardest yards were behind her in a seven-year marathon to the finish line. Invitations for a celebratory sit-down dinner were already at the printers, and the five grand opening exhibitions had been revealed to widespread fanfare…’
‘Acknowledged by the Committee of Sydney as a changemaker, Havilah was in the running for Sydneysider of the Year 2026, … Yet beneath the surface, Havilah’s single-minded determination and laser-like focus had failed to detect that government support, which had long shielded her against complaints from staff, trade unions, MPs and former curators, was rapidly crumbling. On Thursday, Havilah was out. Arts Minister John Graham cited “new allegations” in a carefully worded statement…’
And ‘Rather than relying on established corporate structures, the chief executive maintained a style of micromanagement that left senior staff sidelined while spending surged. To be fair, an inexperienced government had entrusted this former arts venue operator with the job of delivering a billion-dollar museum with what seemed to be light departmental oversight…. An ever-growing group of former staffers refer to the culture inside the museum as typical of Stockholm Syndrome, where captives bond with their captors….’
‘By March, the Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport formally requested independent assurance from NSW Procurement for all Powerhouse contracts valued over $10 million. Havilah had delegation for contracts up to $5 million, but she appears to have been reluctant to consult either the board or the government.
Graham is understood to have escalated matters further to the museum’s board, led by chair David Borger, reminding it of its governance responsibilities. The board met two weeks ago to discuss procurement matters.
Wilkinson’s appointment [a Treasury official parachuted into the role of acting chief operating officer] only underscored deep government anxiety over the museum’s long-term budget position, a belated attempt by Treasury to rein in the museum’s spending, amid an arm wrestle about its future operating budget, which remains undisclosed.
But the latest allegations referenced in Graham’s statement are understood to be fresh disclosures, arising separately out of ongoing inquiries.
In the end, the climax arrived swiftly: Havilah was to stand aside immediately pending the completion of an independent investigation. The seven-year reign of one of Sydney’s most formidable cultural leaders was effectively over, leaving the flagship project to white-knuckle its final weeks to opening under interim management.’
READ HERE, and HERE: SMH Linda Morris 29 August

29 August:
‘Powerhouse in crisis as Lisa Havilah stands aside and minister faces pressure’
Tim Douglas, Chief culture correspondent for The Australian, identified that: ‘Pressure is mounting on NSW Arts Minister John Graham after Powerhouse CEO Lisa Havilah stood aside amid a fresh probe, just 10 weeks before the $915m Parramatta museum opens.’
‘The founding director [Lindsay Sharp] of the Powerhouse Museum has called on NSW Arts Minister John Graham to fall on his sword amid the “cataclysm” at the Parramatta Powerhouse that has seen chief executive Lisa Havilah step aside under a cloud of controversy just 10 weeks out from the $915m project’s opening. Ms Havilah’s shock move comes just days before she was to be questioned at a NSW budget estimates committee hearing amid broader concerns over budget blowouts and investigations into complaints about governance. Powerhouse chief operating officer Mark Wilsdon was replaced last month by Treasury executive Cassandra Wilkinson against the backdrop of departmental scrutiny of the institution’s operating costs.’
Lindsay Sharp led the creation of the Powerhouse and served as director of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences from 1978-88 before taking the helm of London’s prestigious National Museum of Science and Industry. He said he had never witnessed a cultural institution suffer such a rupture so close to the opening of a major project.
“I’ve run museums and been a senior consultant for about six different jurisdictions and I’ve never come across anything like this,” Dr Sharp told The Australian. “It’s cataclysmic, in terms of bureaucracy and project management. If anyone in government, a senior person in government, has to step down, it is Minister Graham. “He said, categorically, ‘I’m going to be very different from the previous government – I’m going to be transparent’ and so on and so forth. Well, I think he’s done exactly the opposite, with respect to freedom of information, and answers at budget estimates about the Powerhouse. He should fall on his sword.” … Dr Sharp said the timing of Ms Havilah’s stepping aside – a matter of weeks out from opening – was notable. “This would tend to suggest that whatever it is that has caused this disruption, or rupture in the space-time fabric of culture in NSW, is very serious,” he said.
Mr Graham’s office refused to comment further on the nature of the rift. Mr Graham is due to appear before budget estimates on Monday. Dr Sharp has been a longstanding critic of the decision to move the Powerhouse from Ultimo to Parramatta. In submissions to NSW parliamentary inquiries, he has warned that the relocation was poorly planned and inadequately costed.
Ms Havilah’s decision on Thursday to stand aside has thrown the institution’s grand opening and its future into turmoil as it races toward the November 7 deadline. …Ms Havilah has spent seven years leading one of the largest cultural projects in Australian history: a $1.2bn overhaul of the Powerhouse’s four Sydney sites, centred on the construction of the new museum at Parramatta and taking in the redevelopment of its historic Ultimo home.
Of the government’s responsibility, prominent art critic John McDonald on his Substack site, Everything the Art World Doesn’t Want You To Know, also laid blame at the feet of the minister. “When it comes to John Graham, the responsibility is even more obvious,” he wrote. “He has defended his CEO to the media and in parliamentary committees for years. Labor was elected on a promise to fix the Powerhouse disaster and has only made matters worse – much worse. Any failure on Havilah’s part is an even greater failure on Graham’s. “If Havilah goes down, the minister stands revealed as her chief enabler, who has refused to listen to expert advice or public petitions. At every stage the smiling Mr Graham has invested in Havilah’s ‘vision’ and should accept his share of the blame.”
Powerhouse Museum Alliance member Kylie Winkworth, a former Powerhouse Museum trustee, said crisis was engulfing the institution and it ran “far deeper than one CEO”. “This is a profound failure of governance,” Ms Winkworth said. “This scandal runs far deeper than one CEO.”… Ms Winkworth told The Australian last week she believed the institution and its staff base had been “comprehensively de-skilled”, with the loss of specialist expertise posing “a huge risk to conservation”. Speaking to The Australian recently, Ms Havilah rejected the claims, saying the institution had strengthened rather than weakened its curatorial capacity and had grown its curatorial team from 20 to 32. But a submission from the Powerhouse Museum Alliance to a recent inquiry alleged the museum had broadened the meaning of “curator” to include staff without specialist museum background.
Dr Sharp also rejected the idea that the Parramatta project should be judged simply by whether its doors open successfully. “We all want western Sydney to have something resplendent and fantastic,” he said. “Why would we not?” But he questioned whether the new institution would function as a conventional museum, arguing the scale and design of the Parramatta complex represented a fundamental departure from the Powerhouse’s original intention. “It’s just not going to be a museum,” he said.
… During a recent tour of the almost-completed building, Ms Havilah told The Australian that while she understood the strong feelings, the Parramatta project was an important one. “The Powerhouse has to move forward,” she said. “Sometimes museums have to change to stay relevant.”
READ HERE, and HERE: The Australian T Douglas Havilah 29-30 2026

29 August:
HAVILAH STANDS ASIDE – BUT THE SCANDAL RUNS FAR DEEPER…’
Strong supporters, Save the Powerhouse Museum group, provided on their regular wide-reaching Facebook page, a detailed summary of all the recent announcements.
They included:’   “There is a God! The Queen is in the tower.” So declared distinguished arts critic John McDonald, greeting Lisa Havilah’s standing aside as CEO of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS) in his latest editorial, https://www.everythingthe.com/p/there-is-a-god.
“After seven painful years, in which we’ve seen the systematic destruction of the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo, the relocation of a priceless collection to a glorified depot in Castle Hill, and the construction of a monumental white elephant in Parramatta that nobody actually wanted, Lisa Havilah had come to believe that her role as Powerhouse CEO allowed her to realise her wildest dreams,” wrote McDonald.
He continued: “Under the wise and benevolent gaze of Arts Minister, John Graham, Havilah felt she could do whatever she liked. If this meant sidelining the museum’s long term curators and hiring a group of completely unqualified people, that was fine. If it was a matter of handing millions of dollars to ‘associates’ with whom she had already declared conflicts of interest, that was OK too. The list could go on and on…”
“As the months rolled on, and Havilah’s ‘vision’ grew ever more extravagant…the costs kept skyrocketing. The money had to be found somewhere, and John Graham’s Ministry of the Arts obligingly diverted funds from arts projects and organisations all over NSW…Havilah’s Palace on the Parramatta River demanded more and more loot for its grandiose schemes, none of which bore much resemblance to the PHM’s charter, or anything we might recognise as a museum.”
Save the Powerhouse is naturally pleased by Lisa Havilah’s standing aside, a development for which we have advocated for years. But let us not be too optimistic, yet, about what her departure will mean for the future of the Powerhouse institution.
See more  details  (29 August) HERE: and HERE:  Save the Powerhouse

THE COMMENTS ABOVE ARE A REMINDER OF 2023 ANNOUNCEMENTS, OPPOSITIONS  AND PROMISES BELOW!

26 April, 2023
Revealed: the ‘buried’ Powerhouse Museum report that could have stopped $500m redevelopment
Kelly Burke wrote several papers in The Guardian in 2023, documenting many concerns and much opposition to the decision to move the Powerhouse (Museum) to Parramatta.
Here, she wrote: ‘A heritage architect hired by the previous New South Wales government to consult on major redevelopments at Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum is alleging that his research was buried. He alleges this was because it would have scuppered controversial plans to demolish much of the beloved Sydney institution.
Alan Croker, who has previously consulted on architectural landmarks such as the Sydney Opera House, told Guardian Australia his company, Design 5, had drafted a conservation management plan (CMP) on the heritage significance of the Ultimo site in October 2021.
His recommendation that the entire site be heritage listed threatened $500m plans to turn the Powerhouse into a commercially oriented fashion and design hub.
The final report from a second company was published under the then premier, Dominic Perrottet, in mid-2022. It meant the government could demolish most or all of what was constructed at the Powerhouse in the 1980s, when the former power station was converted into Australia’s largest science and technology museum.
The state government announced in 2015 that the museum would be relocated to a new $915m facility in Parramatta and the Ultimo site redeveloped. Two years later, after considerable public outcry, the plan was dropped. But a year later it was readopted by the Berejiklian government. In February this year the beloved institution dropped “museum” from its name altogether…. Croker believes his CMP, a draft of which was handed to the government in April 2022, ended up “buried somewhere” because its findings were “not what the powers that be wanted to know”.
… The complaints were so prominent that the state significant development assessment signed off by the planning minister, Anthony Roberts, in February this year included the note: “The Department acknowledges the criticisms and concerns about the structure, content and analysis provided by the CMP.”
Of the 108 submissions the government received in 2022 relating to the Ultimo site redevelopment, 96 were against the project. Among them was one from the Powerhouse’s former president and trustee and lawyer, Nick Pappas, who wrote that the project was “a long and sorry story of public deceit and a wanton waste of public resources”.
The Powerhouse’s founding director, Dr Lindsay Sharp, said it was “inconceivable” and “completely flawed” that the Heritage Council of NSW had not heeded the National Trust’s recommendation and listed the entire Ultimo site on the heritage register. “What I do know is that there was a CMP written by a very professional person and that person’s report has disappeared,” Sharp said.
READ HERE: and HERE: Kelly Burke PHM Buried CMP 26 April 2023
ALSO: Kelly Burke Cultural vandalism B&W 9 May 2023
AND: Kelly Burke PHM object damage The Guardian 10 May 2023

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23 August 2026:
‘Revealed: The five exhibitions to open the Parramatta Powerhouse’
Sydney Morning Herald
After we have all waited for a very long time, Linda Morris has been able to announce in the Sydney Morning Herald the titles and themes of the five opening exhibitions at Powerhouse Parramatta [Museum], and the expected entry arrangements. She wrote:
‘All five opening exhibitions at the billion-dollar Powerhouse Parramatta will be free to visitors aged 16 and under when the landmark museum opens on November 7 – a debut the state is hailing as its biggest investment in the city’s cultural life since the Sydney Opera House.
The NSW government confirmed first details of the ticketing structure as the final three temporary shows have been unveiled – a dedicated children’s exhibition flipping the script on darkness as a place of fear and nightmares, a dive into Indigenous perspectives on water management and Australia’s first show of the works of British designer and artist Es Devlin.
While admission to the museum will be free, those over 16 will be charged an as-yet-undisclosed entry fee to the museum’s flagship exhibition, Task Eternal, its blockbuster that will unpack humanity’s fascination with stars, flight and space.
Access to a six-storey purpose-built steel tower topped by a room featuring the work by US artist James Turrell will likely carry an additional charge. For comparison, entry to a sister work at Tasmania’s Museum of New Art is $10. A full schedule of charges will be disclosed closer to opening.
“Western Sydney is a rapidly growing population, and it’s much younger than the rest of the city,” Arts minister John Graham said of a region where one in five people are aged 14 years or younger. “We want to make sure all communities, all audiences, feel welcome. And particularly at this time, when cost of living pressures are real, we want to make sure as many people – young and old, families, and individuals – can come to and enjoy the Powerhouse Parramatta.”’
‘Representing a $70 million-plus investment, the five temporary opening exhibitions will run for between 18 months and three years, and there will be periodic object rotations. More than 3000 objects will be displayed, with at least 1600 drawn from the Powerhouse collection … The opening line-up marks a shift towards immersive technology and visitor participation rather than traditional spectator models, reflecting broader global trends. Temporary and immersive hands-on installations may add, however, to scepticism about matching the educational engagement of permanent displays, such as the classic transport and steam exhibits at the Ultimo site.
Chief executive Lisa Havilah confirmed the museum will not have a standalone dedicated exhibit for western Sydney, saying local stories were embedded in all exhibitions within broader national and international contexts. “These five foundational exhibitions place audiences at the heart of the museum, bringing to life stories of technology, creativity and excellence,” Havilah said.’
Powerhouse’s Parramatta launch exhibitions: The five shows
Es Devlin: The Turning: Five major works by British artist and stage designer Es Devlin, exhibiting for the first time in Australia..[more]
The Dark: This dedicated exhibition for children aged 4 to 12 years reframes the fear of darkness into a “playground of curiosity” using interactive storytelling, a crystal tunnel, and 100 borrowed childhood toys [more]
Overflow: Developed in collaboration with Kalari Clan and Wiradjuri curator Emily McDaniel and working with seven Indigenous community organisations, this show considers the importance and care of salt and freshwater ecosystems around Australia. [more]
Task Eternal: Occupying the museum’s largest gallery, this headlining exhibition traces the history of aviation and space exploration in partnership with the Smithsonian and the British Museum. [more]
The Mall: With its Americana title, this show examines the history and global impact of shopping centres, centring on western Sydney’s role [more]’

‘More than a decade in the making – it received the green light in 2015 – the Parramatta Powerhouse project involved a $915 million base build covering the riverfront construction, a new Castle Hill storage facility and the digitisation of 371,000-plus collection items. Additionally, $140 million was spent by the state government to secure the riverfront property from the City of Parramatta. The museum’s pre-opening expenses, including a documentary on its opening costing about $1.7 million, have exceeded $70 million.
The museum says it has raised $80.28 million in philanthropic contributions to be banked over 10 years, meeting its capital fundraising target for the base build, which was set at $75 million.’
READ HERE, and HERE:  260823 SMH

21 August, 2026
‘Powerhouse chief Lisa Havilah defends divisive $915m museum against fierce criticism’
Tim Douglas, Weekend Australian
Following the recent government announcement that the official opening date of the Powerhouse Parramatta (Museum) was to be November 7, Tim Douglas, chief Culture correspondent for the Weekend Australian newspaper, provides an extensive account of an interview with Powerhouse (Museum’s) CEO Lisa Havilah about her attitude to moving the Museum to Parramatta, and also provides some very insightful comments from those who are very familiar with the Museum, and have been critical of the move over the last 10 years.
For experienced audiences, a key issue is that within the political arguments that Western Sydney (Parramatta) should have the state museum moved there, Western Sydney deserves a museum/gallery that reflects its own history – and not have a state museum reorganised to refocus largely on that area, as (despite what the CEO argues against) it appears to be doing within the 5 opening exhibitions and its extensive entertainment areas.
EXTRACTS INCLUDE:
Douglas opens with: ‘Initially slated for a 2024 or 2025 opening, the project has faced significant delays.’ … ‘It has been touted as the most significant cultural infrastructure project in Australia since the construction of the Sydney Opera House; a game changer for one of the country’s oldest collecting institutions; and a grand gesture of cultural equity for one of the fastest growing and multicultural urban centres. It also has been referred to as a “flood-prone political land grab”, “an entertainment centre masquerading as a museum” and “an appalling act of cultural vandalism”.’
‘When, on November 7, the doors swing open to the $915m, 33,000sq m Powerhouse Parramatta in Sydney’s western suburbs, it will mark what Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences chief executive Lisa Havilah hopes will be the end of a prolonged chapter of cultural division and the beginning of a new, positive one for one of Australia’s oldest and most beloved institutions. But …She has spent seven years at the helm of the new museum project, which has included staffing restructures, claims of financial and structural mismanagement, parliamentary hearings, internal ructions, a $1.2bn overhaul of the Powerhouse’s four Sydney sites, and the big one: the contentious shift from its former home in Ultimo, in inner-city Sydney.’
‘…More than 18,000sq m, it claims, will be dedicated to exhibition and public space, including seven large column-free galleries. Visitors will ascend the floors via vertiginous, large-scale escalators, ensconced within large rounded walls that recall the interior of The Broad museum in Los Angeles, some featuring crushed oyster shells. One of the building’s biggest spaces is a vast exhibition hall of more than 2000sq m with an internal exposed ceiling height of 18m. Ultimately, it will host major installations and large-scale objects… The building’s design includes a rooftop terrace, an “observatory with telescopes” and a retractable roof, a greenhouse and garden spaces. The broader specification also includes a large theatre, a cinema, a demonstration kitchen and 30 residential studios for artists, scientists and researchers. There will be dedicated STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) learning spaces for secondary students. .’
[Havilah says:]  “This is a museum. It definitely, absolutely, is a museum. But it’s many things. It is western Sydney’s first cultural institution. So it means something conceptually and socially different. It is about representing Sydney, and also providing access for western Sydney communities to have their own cultural institution. We can’t just do what has been done before. We have to think about what a museum is and what a museum of this century should be.”

HOWEVER, despite Havilah’s support for the distinct changes taking place to purpose, content, staffing and costs, Tim Douglas also makes reference to critical comments, submissions and opposition from experienced museum professionals who have always understood the long-term purpose of the Powerhouse Museum, as a ‘Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences’, with a state responsibility.
He asks: ‘… one question. In 2014, the Powerhouse dropped the name Museum from its title. Critics claim that, despite the size and significant government investment, the Parramatta building and the Ultimo redevelopments have been engineered towards “entertainment” rather than as sites for a serious collecting institution. So, is the Powerhouse a museum? Or is it not?’
He also notes that: ‘… not everyone is so sure. Kylie Winkworth, Powerhouse Museum Alliance member and former Powerhouse Museum trustee and art heritage expert, is one of the most outspoken opponents on the institution’s new direction. “It is a fantasy,” she says, arguing the new direction has abandoned the Powerhouse’s original philosophies. “What we have here is a cultural tragedy.”’
Douglas also records that ‘In 2014 Mike Baird, NSW premier at the time, announced the Powerhouse Museum would be moved from Ultimo to Parramatta, with the CBD site to be sold to help fund the project. The proposal divided the community. A parliamentary inquiry was established in 2016 and found the relocation had been based on “poor planning and advice, a flawed business case and insufficient community consultation”. In 2020, following intense public and political pressure, the government announced a dual-site strategy: redeveloping the Powerhouse in Ultimo and building a new museum in Parramatta.
The Parramatta River site brought another headache: a NSW upper house inquiry found it to be flood-prone… The proposed development also required the demolition of Willow Grove, a historically significant 19th-century Italianate villa and former maternity hospital, with a committee report saying the plan “robbed Parramatta of its rapidly dwindling heritage”. In 2021, the building was demolished….’.
‘For Winkworth, … “There’s been a profound failure of governance here,” she says. “It’s no longer the Powerhouse Museum. It’s a multipurpose arts and entertainment centre. They’re really trying to pretend it’s a museum, at least for a few years, until we all forget about it.” Winkworth’s broader concerns are shared by prominent art critic John McDonald, who in a recent column on his online newsletter, Everything the Art World Doesn’t Want You to Know, wrote: “The process is so far advanced and has absorbed so many millions of dollars (there’d be no change from $2bn if everything over the past decade were included) that the government cannot allow it to fail. That realisation will sink in, gradually at first, and then in an almighty implosion when the building has been open for about six months.” The Australian’s art critic Christopher Allen has been blunter still: “Moving the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta is a mistake. Worse, it is a stupid and obstinate mistake.” Economist Henry Ergas called the closure of Ultimo “one of the greatest acts of cultural vandalism in Australian history”.’
‘There also have been serious questions about the institution’s finances. The Powerhouse recently faced criticism over a film – reportedly budgeted at $2.5m, with more than $1.7m contributed directly by the museum after tax offsets – commissioned to immortalise the Parramatta project. That came just months after The Powerhouse axed a contentious $2.6m “artistic associates” program that had drawn criticism for allegedly sidelining accredited in-house staff in favour of identities such as chef Kylie Kwong and artist Agatha Gothe-Snape.’

‘Last month, The Sydney Morning Herald reported the NSW Treasury had been called in to oversee the Powerhouse’s operating budget after claims the institution had spent more than $70m ahead of its opening. Treasury executive Cassandra Wilkinson was installed as the Powerhouse’s acting chief operating officer. Concerns have been aired, too, among former staff members over the preservation of the collection itself, much of which has been shifted to its Castle Hill premises; and there have been accusations surrounding a loss of specialist curatorial roles. Winkworth argues the institution has been “comprehensively de-skilled”, with the loss of specialist expertise posing “a huge risk to conservation”. Havilah rejects those accusations and argues the institution is in fact bolstering its curatorial stocks: “During my tenure we have increased the museum’s curatorial team from 20 to 32. We’ve also significantly invested in the Powerhouse collection and the conservation team.”’

‘A submission by the Powerhouse Museum Alliance to a recent inquiry into the structure and funding of the arts, music, night-time economy and transport portfolios, however, claims the Powerhouse has expanded the definition of “curator” to encompass staff without the specialist museum experience traditionally required for the profession. It claims former education and public-program staff have been redesignated as “program curators”, while traditional collection curators have been reorganised into exhibition and research teams. Responds Havilah: “Powerhouse will continue to employ qualified and experienced curators across the applied arts and sciences to deliver exhibitions and programs at Powerhouse Parramatta, Ultimo, Castle Hill and Sydney Observatory.?’

The Public Service Association, which represents museum workers, says its members await the opening of the institution, and the renovation of the Ultimo site, “with equal parts excitement and trepidation”. “They are of firm belief that the collection of objects by the museum speaks for itself and while any opportunity to place them on public display is welcomed, they fear under the direction of the current leadership there has been an unnecessary and distracting focus on contemporary art commissions and corporate hospitality,” PSA assistant general secretary Troy Wright tells Culture. “They welcome the chance for themselves to be returned out of cold storage after three years in a warehouse, but more keenly anticipate the restoration of the Ultimo site to its former glory as the museum that was forgotten in this development.”’

‘Work began on the Ultimo site in March this year. The government says it will adapt the historic 1899 power station and 1902 Turbine Hall into “international standard galleries”. There is no scheduled date for its completion.’
And PMAlliance adds that despite broad claims for its future, there are no clear plans about content, appropriate staffing, and projects.
READ ALL HERE, and HERE:  260821 The Australian

20 August, 2026
‘Sydney’s A$915m Powerhouse Parramatta museum announces opening date and plans for ambitious space-themed exhibition’
In the Art Newspaper, Elizabeth Fortescue reports that ‘Plans for the institution’s five inaugural shows have been revealed.’ She continues (in these extracts): ‘One of Australia’s most anticipated museum projects, Powerhouse Parramatta, will finally open its doors to the public on 7 November. Organisers have announced that the site will be open 9am to 9pm seven days a week—and 24 hours a day for “residents” such as artists and researchers staying on site.’
‘Touted as a cultural “crown jewel” for western Sydney and located 20km from the city in Parramatta, the A$915 million institution has been 12 years in the making. When completed it will be the largest museum ever built in the state of New South Wales.’
‘The project has its roots in the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences that was founded in Sydney in 1879. Its move west to a major new building is happening as part of a New South Wales Government drive to spread the arts and culture budget more equitably across the city.’
‘… chief executive officer… Lisa Havilah told The Art Newspaper that Powerhouse Parramatta will be full of life around the clock. The 30,000 sq. m. building incorporates 30 residential apartments where scientists, artists and researchers can live and work on site for up to three months. At any one time, 60 school children will sleep in the museum’s student accommodation for two nights while undertaking curriculum-aligned learning. “Every night there will be 90 to 95 people staying,” Havilah said.  “It makes it a 24-hour precinct. There’s no precedent that I know of.”
‘From outer space to Westfield shopping centres Powerhouse will be free entry, but a paid ticket will be required for one of the institution’s five inaugural exhibitions, Task Eternal. Lenders to this exhibition, focused on humanity’s explorations of outer space, include Nasa, the Smithsonian and the British Museum …. The Mall, another of the five inaugural exhibitions, “examines the shopping centre as one of the most influential forms of architecture in modern life”. It will trace western shopping history from the 19th century arcade to AI-driven commercial systems.’… ‘Powerhouse Parramatta is expected to attract two million visitors in its first year, Havilah said. “The real intention of the project is about providing direct access to world-class arts and culture to the fastest growing, most diverse communities in Australia,” she added.
Numerous controversies have accompanied the Powerhouse’s construction. Australian museum industry veterans have predicted it will be an entertainment precinct rather than a museum. Instances of alleged overspending on parties and “artistic associates” have hit the headlines. And the destruction of an historic building called Willow Grove which stood in the way of the development caused National Trust outrage. When The Art Newspaper asked about these matters via email, Havilah responded: “The Powerhouse is undergoing the most transformational period in its history. …“When we open our doors on Saturday 7 November, our vision is that the visitors see themselves reflected in a museum that has been shaped by the community it serves.”
READ HERE, and HERE:  Art Newspaper Elizabeth Fortescue 20 Aug 2026

15 August 2026 +ANNOUNCEMENT OF OPENING DAY OF POWERHOUSE (MUSEUM) IN PARRAMATTA
Following announcements from the Powerhouse Museum eg:  HERE , or HERE, and others from Western Sydney promotional links, many major news sites have announced the opening date for ‘Powerhouse Parramatta’ to take place on 7 November, 2026.
Read below, some media entries…
Followed by concerned comments about the content and purpose of the Parramatta site, and the very unclear future of the ‘saved’ site in Ultimo.
And we are reminded about the criticism of the decision, and the PHM’s CEO, in the Australian Financial Review, on 30 January, 2020 (see also our News Chronology for 2020) READ HERE: Havilah AFR Magazine 30 Jan 2020

15 August 2026, (in print 16 August)
Sydney Morning Herald: ‘Parramatta Powerhouse opening date revealed’
In the Sydney Morning Herald, Jessica McSweeney announced that:
‘Powerhouse Parramatta will officially open to the public on Saturday, November 7 in what the government is celebrating as the most significant cultural infrastructure project since the Sydney Opera House.
Most of the exhibitions held at the new museum will be free, with the opening program of five including a celebration of the world’s aviation and space history, and a major exhibition chronicling the evolution of shopping centres.
With a construction price tag of $915 million, plus pre-opening expenses including a documentary on its opening costing about $1.7 million, the building on the banks of the Parramatta River is one of the most significant new museum projects in the world. The opening comes more than a decade after plans for the western Sydney museum were announced in 2015.
“When it opens this November, Powerhouse Parramatta will transform Parramatta, linking the centre with the riverfront,” NSW Arts Minister John Graham said. “It will bring audiences from across Sydney, NSW, Australia and the world to explore its bold exhibitions and reshape what audiences think of a museum experience.”
The first exhibition, Task Eternal, will trace humanity’s quest to defy gravity and take to the skies, exploring the history of international aviation. It will include a Qantas Avro 504k aircraft, a next-generation spacesuit and a rocket engine used for the Apollo space mission in the 1960s. The exhibition will occupy the largest gallery space in the new museum and will incorporate First Nations’ art and knowledge about the sky. The display of more than 600 objects is a partnership with the British Museum and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
Another exhibition, The Mall, will examine the “history, evolution and cultural significance” of shopping centres with Western Sydney at the centre. Blacktown was the site of a world-leading shopping centre design when a Westfield opened in 1959. Westfield went on to export the shopping centre designs from Australia across the world. The two-storey exhibition will include more than 560 objects from the Powerhouse collection, plus more than 280 loans and personal stories from the local community. …
“For years and years Parra Mall was the food court of choice for workers and locals alike and one of the few places to grab a quick lunch,” local MP Donna Davis said. “While Parra Mall has made way for the Metro, I look forward to the Powerhouse Parramatta exhibition taking me back to the aromas and lunchtime shopping at the mall in the 90s.”.’
READ HERE, and HERE:  15 Aug 2026 PH Parra opening date SMHerald

15 August, 2026
Daily Telegraph: ‘New national landmark’: First look inside Powerhouse as opening date revealed
Linda Silmalls, in The Daily Telegraph, reports that …’More than a decade since it was first mooted, The Saturday Telegraph can reveal the Minns government has agreed on an opening date for the $915 million project.
Dubbed the most significant cultural infrastructure project since the Sydney Opera House, the museum marks a “coming of age” for Parramatta, complementing its transformation to a modern metropolis. Western Sydney’s first cultural institution, the museum will house more than 3000 separate exhibits, with the government promising that most will be free, as will entry.
One of the first five exhibitions at the museum will include a homage to the shopping mall, featuring exhibits from Sydney’s first Westfield at Blacktown, the old “Parra mall” and relics of other famous retail centres.
The homage – dubbed “The Mall” – will also include rare archives from Australian brands such as Hot Tuna and Mambo, the signature Levi’s 501 jeans worn by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and the Predator Boot, conceived by former Liverpool player, Australian Craig Johnston, and worn by David Beckham. Shop window displays such as those by David Jones, Sportsgirl and R.M Williams will also be showcased along with the “raindrop foundation” from Roselands centre.
The opening follows protests over the relocation from the city and criticism at the cost. However, the government and museum advocates are confident Western Sydney’s first major cultural institution will recoup a large portion of the investment within the first year. The government is at pains to point out that $75 million of the total bill came from philanthropic contributions.
Arts Minister John Graham said the Powerhouse was set to challenge visitor views on a typical museum experience. “It will bring audiences from across Sydney, NSW, Australia and the world to explore its bold exhibitions and reshape what audiences think of a museum experience,” he said.
Business Western Sydney executive director David Borger, who had been one of the leading advocates for the museum relocation, said it represented a new national landmark that completed Parramatta’s transformation from industrial heartland to a modern city. “I don’t think I can remember a time when Sydney has had a cultural investment this big. Not since the Opera House. It will be the biggest museum in NSW,” he said. “It is going to shape Western Sydney from a scrappy manufacturing heartland. We are giving birth to the biggest museum investment in the world. “The Powerhouse is the first building in Parramatta leaning back into its riverside setting.” READ HERE: PHM Daily Telegraph PP opening Nov 7 2026

15 August, 2026
ABC News: Powerhouse Parramatta to open doors to public on November 7
ABC’s report noted: ‘The Powerhouse Parramatta will open to the public on November 7, four years after construction started. The first five exhibitions will showcase more than 3,000 objects.
NSW Arts Minister John Graham said the opening marked the most significant cultural infrastructure project since the Sydney Opera House. “It’s a big moment for arts and culture in the west of Sydney,” he said. “The good news is it’s also free, so for people under a bit of cost-of-living pressure, they’ll be able to come in and see this incredible building, this great cultural institution for free. “There’s no easy way to build new cultural institutions, just as the building of the Opera House was controversial. As it proceeded, when the doors swung open, no-one was in doubt that this was an incredible addition to our city. “I think the reaction from the public will be the same as they see this incredible building on the banks of the river right in the heart of Parramatta.”
The first five exhibitions will showcase more than 3,000 objects, with more than 1,600 from the Powerhouse’s own collection, with others sourced from collections around the world.
The first exhibition, Task Eternal, will include the historic Qantas Avro 504k aircraft.
The second major exhibition, announced today, The Mall, examines the history, evolution and cultural significance of the shopping mall.
Powerhouse CEO Lisa Havilah said she was “thrilled” to announce the opening date.
“Powerhouse Parramatta is a museum built for the future, where local knowledge meets global perspectives,” she said. “We are thrilled to be opening our doors this November with five world-class exhibitions and a program that is as bold and diverse as the communities it serves.”
READ HERE: and HERE: ABC report 15 August. docx

16 August 2026
Powerhouse Parramatta – Opening 7 November
On its website, a post from the local group, ‘Western Sydney Mums’, writes:
‘Western Sydney is about to get something it has never had before — a world-class museum right in its own backyard. Powerhouse Parramatta is opening 7 November 2026 and it is shaping up to be one of the most significant cultural landmarks this region has ever seen. Here is everything you need to know (extracts below):
What’s Inside? A Breakdown for Families
This is not your standard museum. Powerhouse Parramatta has been designed as a dynamic, evolving institution that brings together art, design, science, technology, education and community. Here is what families can expect:

• Seven large-scale exhibition spaces, including one of the largest column-free spaces in Australia at 18 metres high and over 2,000 square metres
• A cinema and a 600-seat theatre for live performances and screenings
• Learning and digital studios for hands-on experiences
• A rooftop garden with telescopes, a greenhouse, Indigenous plant species and sweeping views across Parramatta to the Sydney CBD
• A restaurant and café
• A 24-hour publicly accessible green domain between the museum and the Parramatta River — open every day for festivals, events and community gatherings for up to 10,000 people’
  And the:  ‘Lang Walker Family Academy — a dedicated STEM learning hub built into the museum. It offers immersive education programs and overnight residencies for up to 10,000 secondary students from Western Sydney and regional NSW each year…’
  READ HERE:  Western Sydney Mums

Comments regarding all August news items, from experienced colleagues (names withheld) include:
Bearing in mind the 10 years of professional public criticism  {see our earler news reports) of moving a significant state museum away from the acknowledged state capital city centre, where state institutions are expected to be, to a region that deserves its own locally relevant museum, some current critical comments include:

• Now that Parramatta will be delivered, work on Ultimo can begin in earnest. If the Labor government is to keep its promise, new management is required. John Graham has promised to return to the museum to what the people of NSW have lost in this project. This can only happen under management who understand what the Powerhouse Museum actually is under its Act. Parramatta may be many things, but it is not the Powerhouse Museum.
• Much of what has been announced (2 named exhibitions; 3 not yet identified) indicate a focus on local interests, rather than state and national histories and future.
• The description of exhibitions is not impressive – a State Museum? Only 5 exhibitions (compared with over 20 for the 1988 opening in Ultimo), and not all are associated with the State collection [now dispatched to storage in Castle Hill]. Some are very Local (as for other Council and regional museums/galleries) and others possibly more borrowed at costs, than from the collection! And – emphasis on entertainment??? Past experiences show management does not agree with enough background information.
• Despite minister John Graham’s election commitment to ‘save’ the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo, much of the building has been demolished, and there is no clear information, for its future program as a state museum of ‘applied arts and sciences’..
• See the Daily Telegraph big sell by Borger for Parra shopping mall exhibition in a milk crate. (Westfield shopping Mall). … re Borger – the key protagonist of the PHM ‘move’ to Parramatta, when head of the Western Sydney Business Chamber, he set Liz-Anne McGregor [Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney] onto it with art colleagues from WS to make the case with Deloittes that PHM should be moved to WS.
• Displayed over two floors? I guess this means they’re just trying to fill the space with stuff and there won’t even be ‘five’ exhibitions, let alone anything approaching the 25 exhibitions that opened the Real Powerhouse Museum the Minns government has destroyed.
• The promised family science technology museum opening with an exhibition on the history of shopping centres in Western Sydney. Is this what they think the history of Parramatta is about – Escalators , shopping trolleys and food halls. Patronising much?
• Concerns about the continuing depletion of knowledgeable and experienced staff in the planning and carrying out of exhibitions and related public projects, associated with the state significant collection.

3 August, 2026
‘My suburb is a global city, an overnight success story 30 years in the making’
In an Opinion story the Sydney Morning Herald (in print 4 August), David Borger, executive director of Business Western Sydney, and a former state MP, minister and lord mayor of Parramatta, wrote extensively about his memories, and recent developments in this council area of Parramatta in western Sydney. Apart from its unmentioned significant heritage history (with a number of important buildings now demolished), among the many changes made in recent decades, he wrote:
‘And then came the year 2000. The Olympic torch was making its way through the city. I walked down to Parramatta Park, and as I got closer, I saw people pouring out of their homes, filling the footpaths, joining the crowd. By the time we reached The Crescent, 50,000 people had gathered. It was electric. The air buzzed with pride and energy. In that moment, you could feel something essential about Parramatta – its spirit, its confidence, its sense of community. This wasn’t a city on the sidelines. It was a city stepping into its own. Today, Parramatta is one of the most multicultural and educated areas of NSW. Young professionals, families, students and entrepreneurs are drawn here by opportunity and affordability… And then there’s Parramatta Square – the city’s “good room” at the front of the house. …A civic space that reflects the city’s aspirations, where people gather, celebrate and connect. It’s a symbol of Parramatta’s maturity and momentum, a statement that this city has finally built a heart worthy of its size and ambition …’ And he concludes: ‘On the banks of the river, the rise of the Powerhouse Museum is one of the most significant changes we’ve ever seen. For too long, western Sydney has been shortchanged when it comes to cultural infrastructure. The Powerhouse is a bold gesture, a statement that our stories, our creativity and our communities matter. It’s not just another building. It’s a cultural anchor. It’s going to change the way people see Parramatta, and perhaps even more importantly, the way we see ourselves. It’s a turning point: a declaration that the cultural life of NSW doesn’t end at the Sydney Harbour Bridge.’
READ HERE, and HERE: SMH Borger 3 August 2026

HOWEVER, while Parramatta has always deserved its own regional museum (such as in other Councils which support them, despite considerable recent government defunding), Borger’s point of view clearly refers to offering local/regional attractions, alongside the entertainment he mentions. BUT  those who are widely opposed to moving the Powerhouse Museum, argue that as a STATE museum it should remain with other state institutions in the capital CBD of Sydney city, reflecting in detail strong references to the past, present and future of the ‘applied arts and sciences’ in its extensive collection, and accessibility to wide audiences in that context.
They recognise in his statement that he (and the CEO) sees the museum as a local entertainment and promotional place, with very little reference to its long-term wider role and history, in its limited exhibition program, despite extensive costs.

Critical comments from Museum supporters include:

• In his Opinion today, Borger appears to imagine the Powerhouse Parramatta as to do with local communities rather than a state museum, accessible to wide audiences! Yes, Parramatta deserves its own museum, but not this state one, especially the way management is now focusing on local entertainment with very limited collection-based exhibitions. (Check other state capitals!)
• This goes to the core of what this saga has always been about: a complete misunderstanding of what the Powerhouse MUSEUM is. Yes, we tell stories of region. But in the context of a state and a nation. Of how human endeavour – cultural and technological, progressive and detrimental – landed us at a particular cultural and technological point; told through well-researched material culture. It has turned into vanity projects for a few fringe
• Saying the PP is like the good room you show off to visitors and not even mentioning the state’s most significant world and national heritage sites is like taking people to see your new Ikea flat pack kitchen in your home while hiding your Fabergé eggs in the shed.
• More propaganda. Obvious timing. Where Eels Lie Down is an atrocious piece of ‘public art’. How much did that blot on the landscape cost? No doubt the four sculptural commissions for PP will be Even Greater for Sydney and Parramatta. This puffery avoids all of the controversy about the PP which we…and many others have been documenting for years. It avoids the destruction of a great international museum. And $2 billion in cost (+). As has been pointed out the regime simply doesn’t understand what PHM is. Borger is a cultural black hole. PP will probably crash and burn fiscally and financially within a year or two. Carriageworks writ large. Government should give this enormous blot to Parramatta and let them run it. The operational costs will be eye-watering on top of the build, the fit-out and all the other distributed and unaccounted for costs (Total Project Cost) Instead, the long-suffering NSW tax payers are stuck with a huge, lemon-tinted White Elephant.

3 August, 2026
John McDonald ‘Wisdom &Folly’
In his regular newsletter (#638), John McDonald comments very succinctly regarding recent news reports (see late July, below) about the forthcoming ‘opening’ of ‘Powerhouse Parramatta’.
Among extensive discussions,  in these extracts, starting on  his page 4, he included:
‘Having momentarily risen above the grubby field of politics, I’m obliged to return to earth because some topics are too big to ignore. For “big”, think of the bloated Powerhouse project. For “politics” reflect on the warped priorities of the NSW government. …As we’ve been informed by endless press releases, puff pieces and paid advertorials, the Pharaonic mega-project known as Powerhouse Parramatta is due to open towards the end of 2026 – undoubtedly in a blaze of glory. The word on the grapevine, however, is that the grand launch may not take place this year as there are too many loose ends still searching for a knot.
To be consistent, CEO Lisa Havilah is probably chasing a high-priced, celebrity knotting consultant to add the finishing touches…. If no suitable candidate is available, she can always fall back on one of those reliable “Creative Associates”, who creamed millions from the taxpayer before a parliamentary inquiry prompted Ms. Havilah to turn off the tap…
As previously noted, when the Sydney Morning Herald begins writing critical articles about the PHM, the problems must have reached monumental proportions…
We’ll be watching this see-saw approach with interest as launch day for PHM Parramatta draws closer. The process is so far advanced and has absorbed so many millions of dollars (there’d be no change from $2 billion if everything over the past decade were included in the bill) that the government cannot allow it to fail – or at least for it to be perceived as a failure. That realisation will sink in, gradually at first, and then in an almighty implosion when the building has been open for about six months. By that stage, Lisa Havilah may be demolishing a museum in some other unsuspecting part of the world.
This is why Linda Morris’s most recent SMH report is an eye-opener. Only a few weeks ago we learned that NSW Treasurer, Daniel Mookhey, known for his complete disinterest if not contempt for the arts, had allowed yet more funds to be channelled into the PHM, while pulling money from the operating budgets of the Art Gallery of NSW, the Australian Museum and other institutions. Suddenly we find: “NSW Treasury has been brought in to scrutinise the operating budget of the new Powerhouse Museum as contracts show the institution has burned through more than $70 million in the lead-up to its headquarters’ grand opening.”
As a result, the PHM has a new acting chief operating officer in Treasury executive, Cassandra Wilkinson, who should have plenty of receipts to examine. It’s another matter altogether whether she chooses to hold anyone accountable, as previous history encourages the suspicion that this is yet another way of creating the appearance of responsible management while the torrent of taxpayers’ money continues to flow. Ms. Wilkinson, please note, is married to former Labor MP, Paul Macleay, who left the Ministry in 2010, after misusing a parliamentary computer. It’s hard to imagine she will do anything to embarrass the government.
One of the most interesting – and typical – of the newly revealed PHM expenses, is the hiring of interior designer, Yasmine Saleh Ghoniem, who hosts the ABC’s Grand Designs Transformations. Ms. Ghoniem will be providing “interior design advice” for the bargain price of only $333,520….Admittedly, Ghoniem is one of more than 50 designers engaged by Ms. Havilah – who doesn’t do anything by half-measures when the public is paying. …. As you may recall, the Great Leader handed at least $2.6 million (which is only the figure to which the PHM will admit) to a group of “creatives”, undaunted by the fact that she had previously declared conflicts of interest with some of them. …
In pursuing such programs with her usual bulldozer-like finesse, Ms. Havilah showed sovereign contempt for her own curators, who were perfectly capable of doing whatever these outside consultants were supposedly doing, while being paid much smaller salaries and working full-time. As a museum of design, the PHM has – or should have – curators who are well-informed of the latest design trends and innovations, and able to provide first-rate advice.
Another intriguing detail of expenditure was as follows: “a Sydney workshop specialising in solid timber crafting was paid $2 million for shop drawings, material samples, and off-site fabrication of bedheads, wardrobes, and specialised joinery for the apartments in the museum’s eastern wing.” The studio apartments, we are told, “will house visiting scientists, researchers, and artists from Australia and overseas collaborating on Powerhouse research and programming.” The idea that the PHM should function as a hotel as well as a museum, has long been part of Ms. Havilah’s “vision”, albeit a hotel that doesn’t raise any revenue from its operations…
More worryingly, according to Linda Morris’s report, Ker’s Tree of Life is one of “four major international major artworks or installations destined for the taxpayer-funded museum.” …Take another step back, and the question arises: “Why does such a museum require four major contemporary art commissions anyhow?” The PHM used to be known as a showcase for applied arts and sciences, but under the Havilah regime it has become an expensive cultural stew that wants to be all things to all people. …
It appears the NSW Ministry of the Arts is willing to fund PHM Parramatta’s whim to acquire high-priced works of contemporary art, while cutting back allocations to more appropriate institutions. This is one way the PHM has managed to clock up a bill for $70 million (and rising) prior to opening day.
Another component of that bill was trumpeted on the ABC news site in a story by Declan Bowring, who told us about boilerplate #1224 – the proposed “centrepiece” of the PHM’s Task Eternal, the $18 million space exhibition that will launch the new building. This attractive object is a 4.5 tonne test command module used in 102 ignition tests to make sure the Apollo space capsule was safe. In plain English, this is a spaceship that never went into space. …The curator in charge of the project is Jaklyn Babington, whose former experience is in the field of contemporary art. With a wave of her magic wand, Queen Lisa has invested Jak with newfound astronomical expertise.
The ABC’s reliably bland piece of reporting was unsullied by comment from anyone who might have had a more critical opinion of the boilerplate. On a group email from those involved with the Powerhouse Museum Alliance, which includes former PHM curators with many years of in-house expertise, I learnt that the boilerplate had allegedly been sitting outside in the rain for 20 years where it copped its share of graffiti. Former PHM director, Lindsay Sharp, recalled travelling in the USA and the USSR between 1985-87, searching for space material that might be shown at the museum. “There’s no way I would have accepted an object as pathetic as this porker,” he writes. “They probably scraped the barrel just to get something.”
…The big news, however, is that the Powerhouse has commissioned a documentary about its move. Production commenced in 2021 and is still underway, having been extended by two years because of construction delays. The contract price is $2.5 million, which will be offset by tax mechanisms, so the PHM will only pay $1.7-1.9 million. Another great saving!
The filmmakers, Felix Media, will present the PHM with “a 60-minute feature which it can shop to SBS and ABC, [and] an 87-minute extended feature-length film to run in its new cinema”.
Sounds fascinating! Just don’t expect anything too critical of management. When one considers that the entire PHM project has been forced through against massive public and expert opposition; administered in the most amateurish, spendthrift manner; absorbed funding that might have gone to every other arts organisation in NSW; and is destined for economic meltdown (and that’s only for starters), there’s a film crying out to be made. It may not, however, be the film Ms. Havilah has commissioned.
It would require an entire Netflix series to do justice to the torrent of madness we’ve seen unfold over the past decade. Just imagine a mesmeric tale of a government that trashed one of its most valuable cultural assets and bequeathed itself a massive financial burden. It would paint a portrait of a CEO, drunk with power, who was able to satisfy her most fanciful whims, no matter how far they deviated from anything one might expect from a museum. Such a series would surely be a global sensation – and a cautionary tale for people around the world not to be as dumb as us.’  READ ALL HERE:  3 August.JMcD Wisdom and Folly

July 2026, AUDIT WORK PLAN, NSW
The now published and circulated ‘Work Plan 2026-2029’ of the NSW government’s Audit Office of NSW, includes reference to issues relative to the management of the Powerhouse Museum. Anong extracts below,  note this :
P 22: Financial management in cultural institutions Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality, and Sport
‘Following the planned 2026–27 audit of financial management in cultural institutions, this audit will further examine the effectiveness of financial management arrangements in the sector, including the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (Powerhouse).’
READ MORE HERE: Audit Work Plan

July 31, 2026
‘Powerhouse commissioned a documentary about its move. It will cost more than $1.7 million’
In the Sydney Morning Herald, Linda Morris discusses, and questions, the extravagant cost of a documentary being prepared regarding the development and opening of ‘Powerhouse Parramatta’, as: ‘…a new million-dollar documentary – destined for its archives and slated for possible theatrical and public broadcaster release…’.
Morris explains: ‘The feature-length documentary was commissioned from local filmmakers Felix Media [Bridget Ikin and John Maynard] in 2021 to track the building and opening of the $1.2 billion Powerhouse Parramatta, western Sydney’s first major cultural institution and the state’s biggest cultural infrastructure project since the Sydney Opera House.
It appears that: ‘The Herald obtained the contract details after filing an application under freedom of information laws. The museum agreed to informally release the contract information but then sought to impose an embargo until after the building’s opening. The Herald declined such terms.’ …So, ’ For the first time, The Sydney Morning Herald can reveal the estimated contract price for the documentary is $2.5 million. Depending on the size of producer offset rebates received – a tax refund mechanism for initial production costs – the museum will pay between $1.7 million and $1.9 million for the film project it says will drive international and national audience engagement.’
‘The Powerhouse estimates it will receive a producer offset amount of $787,851, the amount to be assessed and confirmed at the completion of the project next year. To be eligible for the 40 per cent offset, the documentary must be produced as a feature film for commercial exhibition to the public in cinemas. Screen Australia expects the film’s planned release to “earn a meaningful proportion of the project’s revenue from the Australian theatrical box office”.’
‘Under the terms of the contract, the filmmakers will produce a 60-minute feature which it can shop to SBS and ABC, an 87-minute extended feature-length film to run in its new cinema, as well as stills, publicity material and copies for the museum archives, and will gift full copyright to the museum. Industry figures said the Powerhouse was unlikely to recoup most of its investment from any broadcast licensing fees and was sceptical about a wide theatrical release that might have justified the museum’s expenditure.’
…’ “I wish it wasn’t the case, but these allegations, if proven, serve to confirm the concerns of our members,” said Troy Wright, assistant secretary of the Public Service Association. “The Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences should be a publicly owned and funded institution concerned with the preservation of our scientific and technological history. It is instead becoming grossly bloated vehicle of public largesse and waste.”
Of related interest, Morris notes regarding a new staff appointment: ‘The documentary costs come as NSW Treasury has been brought in to scrutinise the operating budget of the new Powerhouse museum, with Treasury executive Cassandra Wilkinson now acting as the museum’s chief operating officer.’…‘Publicly available contracts show the institution has burnt through more than $70 million in the lead-up to its headquarters’ grand opening, which is happening in four months.’
‘The spending spree includes $3 million for public relations, marketing and advertising consultancies, including eight short films for placement on a luxury global digital channel originally launched as a brand by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, and the engagement of the bespoke London public relations specialists Bolton & Quinn. These services are in addition to the museum’s communications and marketing team. A further $2.5 million has been contracted to decorate the 30 studio residences for visiting researchers, including bespoke bedheads, rugs and wardrobes. More than $25 million has been committed to the design and to building the framework for five opening exhibitions, not including loans, freight, art commissions and other expenses.’
‘Asked if the government thought the spending on the documentary was appropriate in a cost-of-living crisis, Arts Minister John Graham said the contract was first approved in 2021 under the former government.
“Cancelling it may have had its own costs,” he said. “I expect all government bodies – from departments, agencies and cultural institutions, to be considering the most appropriate use of taxpayers’ funds at all times.”
The contract was extended in 2025 for a further two years as a result of construction delays.’
The Museum stated: ‘“The documentation began in 2021 and has tracked the design, construction, and development process to create the new museum. This has included documenting NSW industries and workers that have collaborated with Lendlease and Infrastructure NSW throughout the building process.”’…’ Maynard said filming would continue until the museum opens. “We anticipate completion in June 2027,” he said.’
READ HERE, and HERE: Linda Morris 31 July

31 July, 2026
‘HAVILAH’S HISTORY DOCUMENTARY’
On their Facebook site, North Parramatta Residents Action Group who, while strongly advocating for acknowledgment of local and regional histories, and have long criticised the destruction of significant heritage buildings in the development of ‘Powerhouse Parramatta’,  comment on the cost and purpose of the documentary described above, writing:
‘The Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda hits Parramatta. $1.7 million govt funding to write Lisa Havilah history of events as her glorious success of the most divisively contentious project that has sucked every cent of cultural funding out of NSW that now Treasury has taken over the project. A sanitised version of events no doubt meanwhile the government is yet to finance the female factory museum that Museums of History NSW provided a business case for two years ago.’ READ HERE 31 July

31 July 2026
“POWERHOUSE” WASTES MILLIONS IN SELF-PROMOTION
Following Linda Morris’ article  (above) “Powerhouse commissioned a documentary about its move. It will cost more than $1.7M” Save the Powerhouse adds comments regarding ‘…another example of the Powerhouse’s extravagant misuse of taxpayers’ money.’ They note:
‘… The museum also refused to release ‘contract information”—including, potentially, the production brief—unless the SMH agreed to an embargo until after the building’s opening, which it refused. That raises legitimate concerns that the documentary may prove to be another piece of publicly funded promotional material rather than an independent documentary.
The documentary is only the latest addition to the museum’s growing communications bill. It comes on top of $3m spent on public relations, marketing and advertising consultancies, including eight short films for placement on a luxury global digital channel, the engagement of London public relations firm Bolton & Quinn, and the budget for the museum’s own communications and marketing team.
For comparison, the Australian Design Centre (ADC) ceased operations at the end of June after Create NSW reduced its recurrent funding from approx. $500,000 to $150,000 a year, leaving an annual shortfall of about $350,000. The contrast clearly indicates everything about the NSW Government’s cultural priorities!’
And also contributing to issues of questionable staff appointments, they say: ’As Morris notes, “the expense comes as NSW Treasury has been brought in to scrutinise the operating budget of the new Powerhouse museum”, with Treasury executive Cassandra Wilkinson appointed Acting Chief Operating Officer (COO).  “Ms Wilkinson has also been a key Treasury contact on Powerhouse-related matters” John Buckley reminds us in the SMH of 30 July.
How many of these extravagances did she sanction?
READ HERE:  31 July Save the Powerhouse Museum re Costs

29 July, 2026
SMH CBD column: John Buckley
As one of several observations in his CBD (Central business district) column in the Sydney Morning Herald, John Buckley includes a serious question of a recent staff appointment to the Powerhouse Museum. He writes:
Labor’s Powerhouse
Labor ties run deep at the Powerhouse Museum. Last week, NSW Treasury executive Cassandra Wilkinson was confirmed as the Powerhouse Museum’s acting chief operating officer.
Treasury was brought in to scrutinise the operating budget of the new museum, as our colleagues have previously reported, as contracts show the institution has burnt through more than an eye-watering $70 million in the lead-up to the grand opening of its new headquarters.
But it was Wilkinson’s appointment which caught our eye. That is, of course, because she is the same Wilkinson who is married to the former NSW Labor minister Paul Mcleay, who was forced to resign amid scandal in 2010 after he reportedly admitted to then-premier Kristina Keneally that he had used his parliamentary computer to access adult and gambling websites.
When alerted to this item earlier in the week, a NSW Treasury spokesperson launched a defence of Wilkinson’s secondment to the role unprompted. “Ms Wilkinson is a highly experienced senior executive at NSW Treasury with a strong track record in public finance and longstanding relationships across NSW’s cultural institutions,” the spokesperson told CBD. “She has also been a key Treasury contact on Powerhouse-related matters.”
Beyond the spending, Wilkinson’s appointment also comes in the throes of a live internal investigation at the Powerhouse into a whistleblower complaint touching on procurement and recruitment (which all happened before Wilkinson’s appointment to acting COO).’

A PMA colleague has since commented: ‘Of course Treasury knows where the money is going and all the dodgy contracts. Every year they’ve back filled the budget, even after the PHM closed. She has been parachuted in to get this unwanted money pit and electoral bribe over the line by March 2027.’
READ HERE:  SMH John Buckley CBD column 29 July and  FULL COLUMN HERE

26 July, 2026
‘Where the city started’: Parramatta’s hidden architectural gems unlocked for a day
And following the report provided below, Anthony Segaert reports in the Sydney Morning Herald, that the annual event ‘Sydney Open’ (for visiting historic buildings) is extending to include important examples in Parramatta on August 29. This confirms the argument that Powerhouse Museum Alliance and its wide connections have always advocated, that Parramatta has always deserved its own museum for its local/regional background. But a State museum Like the Powerhouse Museum (of applied arts and sciences, with its vast collection), should remain in the capital city centre as a museum of state and national significance, and not focus as much as appears to be occurring, on local involvement and references.

Segaert noted: ‘Parramatta has “a really incredible connection” to Sydney’s history, said Tania Quax, the public events manager at Sydney Open. “It’s clearly the historic centre of the city, and yet most people aren’t aware of that.”  “That was really where the city started. Everything was moving up and down the river.”
The August 29 program will feature buildings from Australia’s earliest colonial period: Elizabeth Farm, the oldest homestead in the country; the chequered Parramatta Female Factory; St John’s Anglican Cathedral; and tiny rangers’ cottages deep in Parramatta Park built before the turn of the 18th century.
It will also give behind-the-scenes access to some of the city’s newest developments.Locals are invited into some of the highest levels of Sydney’s largest commercial building by floor space, 6-8 Parramatta Square; the council chambers held in the top of the public library building; and into restricted tunnels surrounding the Parramatta Aquatic Centre.
The program is also providing ticket-buyers with the chance to win access to the Powerhouse Parramatta before its official opening later this year.’
But – as PMAlliance and its followers and advisers ask: ‘Will it be a state museum or a regional entertainment centre?’
READ HERE, and HERE:  SMH Anthony Segaert 26 July

24/25 July, 2026
‘Treasury steps in as Powerhouse Museum pre-opening spending surpasses $70 million’
In the Sydney Morning Herald, Linda Morris reports on how and why ‘NSW Treasury has been brought in to scrutinise the operating budget of the new Powerhouse Museum as contracts show the institution has burned through more than $70 million in the lead-up to its headquarters’ grand opening.’ And also, that: ‘Treasury executive Cassandra Wilkinson was confirmed as the museum’s acting chief operating officer in a letter circulated to staff on Friday morning as an internal investigation into a whistleblower complaint about procurement and recruitment issues remains ongoing.’

The PMAlliance notes that, associated with the largely overwhelming costs regarding the preparation for opening later this year, over 10 years our website has documented wide and well-informed criticism of the proposed move to Parramatta, and the unclear future of the formerly significant Ultimo city site. With the move originally recognised as ‘money in the city and votes in the West’, and where the Parramatta Council had no say in this choice of move versus establishing its own regional museum, it is clear that a number of issues remain about the Parramatta site:

• It will be an ‘entertainment centre rather than a museum’, opening with five largely unidentified exhibitions (rather than 25 in 1988).
• It is not being identified as a ‘state museum’ in a state city centre, and appears to focus in content and programs largely on a local audience and local philanthropy (which Parramatta needs in the same way as other local council areas eg. Mosman, Manly, Wollongong).
• The displays apparently will bring in many outside exhibits, and offer relatively little reference to the collection of ‘applied arts and sciences’, now banished to Castle Hill (and some other remote places), which makes professional curatorial access between this storage site and the two ‘exhibition sites’ very difficult.
• Before closure, it was also evident that the museum management was also more interested in ‘art experiences’ with minimal background information, rather than in providing educational heritage, design and technological background that informs the present and future.

Consequently, the exorbitant costs (of both the development in Parramatta, and the demolition and unclear future of Ultimo) that are also critical in the context of recent full and part- defunding of other NSW museums and galleries, raise serious questions for the decisions that have been made.

Linda Morris provides details about costing issues, including (in brief):
‘…locked in stand-alone and multi-year contracts for cybersecurity, cleaning, recruitment, ticketing, software management, landscaping, rigging, and audiovisual and lighting packages ahead of its doors opening in four months’ time’;
‘It also paid $362,000 for eight promotional films for an international digital channel, alongside local and international public relations, while spending $26 million on exhibition design and fit-outs, according to procurement records’;
‘In addition, the museum has been busy decorating 30 in-house studio apartments’;
‘One of the largest single expenses has been a $13 million fit-out of the walls, ceilings and floors in the museum’s two largest exhibition spaces’;
‘The task of delivering the massive project is weighing heavily on successive NSW budgets, with the museum allocated a record $138 million this financial year, more than for any other cultural institution, including $89 million in unidentified grants. But it’s been set a massive target to raise $50 million revenue across the first seven months after opening, and its first year operating budget is yet to be publicly confirmed’;
‘Treasury officials have been brought in to review the underlying operational needs and test the assumptions dating to the original 2019 business case commissioned by the former Coalition government and prepared pre-COVID when the Ultimo campus was to have been closed, the government said.’
‘Given the two significant construction projects now total more than $1.215 billion, it was an appropriate moment for operational budgets to be tested.’
“With the Powerhouse Parramatta ready to swing its doors open this year it’s the right time to make sure its operating model is fit for purpose, with this Treasury review,” Arts Minister John Graham said.
‘The review will likely be welcomed by the Public Service Association and supporters of the former Ultimo museum, who have been raising questions around spending and procurement policies for two years.’
‘The museum last month axed its highly contentious $2.6 million artistic consultants’ program amid calls by a parliamentary inquiry for greater transparency and accountability.’
‘The museum has not denied reports that the budget for the opening shows has now pushed beyond $70 million. That is roughly 10 times the estimated cost of the Art Gallery of NSW’s opening show lineup for its Sydney Modern expansion in 2022.’
‘The Powerhouse previously trumpeted its commission of more than 50 leading designers from across Australia to shape the spaces and experiences of the new museum. The “generational showcase” of Australian design and innovation had been partially offset by a $2.5 million donation from an anonymous philanthropist.’
‘The contracts show the museum securing heavy-duty rigging, audiovisual services and custom software design, recruitment, landscaping for the riverfront, cybersecurity and cleaning. Alongside that, the museum is spending $2.5 million positioning the institution as a domestic and international cultural destination on top of its own communications team.’
READ MORE HERE: and HERE:  SMH Linda Morris 24 July 2026

June 29 2026
John McDonald: ‘Bugling the Budget’
In his regular, and well-researched arts newsletter, jmcdartcritic+newsletter@substack.com. on June 29 art critic John McDonald made extensive comments here: https://www.everythingthe.com/p/bugling-the-budget  across a range of arts organisations in relation to the arts, in the recent NSW government budget. With particular reference here to the Powerhouse Museum, and his perceptive related organisational funding issues, some extracts include:
‘Glory, glory to the NSW government! To those who have most, heaps shall be given. To those who have least, another cut is on the way.
This year’s NSW State Budget reveals a government for whom the arts are no more than a means to an end: a short-sighted strategy for building electoral support in Sydney’s western suburbs at the expense of most of the state’s arts institutions, large and small. It’s not as if the Minns government hasn’t had plenty of warnings about the cynical and patronising nature of these tactics, or their potential to backfire massively. Labor has made a deliberate choice to ignore well-meant criticism. Instead, it has responded by doubling down on its follies, issuing self-serving press releases, and …
…. The government’s emphasis is on action, not contemplation; on entertainment and participation, not education. We don’t need to know the history of anything, simply enjoy the experience of the moment. Much better a rave party than a retrospective.
… We see this tendency at its most pronounced in the defunding and destruction of the Australian Design Centre, an organisation that existed for 62 years, providing an outlet for countless artists from all over Australia, while ticking every ‘inclusiveness’ box. Twenty years ago, the old Australia Council made it a policy objective to raise the status of the applied arts, which they saw as a community asset and a valuable cultural export. Their counterparts at Creative Australia and Create NSW have so little interest in this area that they have killed a thriving public platform, leaving Sydney as the only capital city in Australia without a crafts and design centre.
… And so we come to this year’s Budget, which is divided into five individual papers and a guide that explains how to read those papers. In terms of arts and culture, the most relevant summary is found in a separate document titled: Overview: Supporting families, securing our future. If you think that sounds like propaganda rather than hard data, you’d be close to the truth.
… Most institutions must have realised that Daniel Mookhey, like the majority of his parliamentary colleagues, has zero interest in arts and culture, and pitched their claims at building projects. To please Arts Minister, John Graham, requests were tweaked to fit his pet obsessions. The State Library, for instance, is being given $22.5 million to develop its rooftop bar area (for parties) while undertaking necessary repairs. The Australian Museum will receive $2.4 million for what Limelight says will be “a new First Nations Gallery designed to present Indigenous histories and cultures through a community-led approach,” as well as digitisation of the collection and building maintenance. The Art Gallery of NSW will get $4.6 million for the “Naala Nura courtyard garden project”. Another $9.5 million goes to Museums of History NSW for maintenance across various properties. One big winner is Qtopia, which receives $12.1 million to help turn the former Darlinghurst Police Station into an LGBTQI+ museum and cultural centre. There’s also $2.6 million for Walsh Bay and $2.2 million for Sydney Observatory (which is officially part of the Powerhouse).
…When we start to look at those areas where funds have been most generously distributed, it’s a predictable picture of the government’s ideological preoccupations. Along with capital works, these are the “key spending areas” this year:
Contemporary Music Strategy: $29.3 million allocated to Sound NSW.
Vibrant Precincts: $29.1 million for the Office of the 24-Hour Economy Commissioner.
Creative Communities: $26.8 million earmarked for programmatic rollouts.
… As for Creative Communities, this is a much trickier proposition, being a 10-year ‘arts, culture and creative communities’ policy, with five pillars – just like the federal government’s National Cultural Policy! You’ll be pleased to learn that the first pillar is to Prioritise First Nations Culture – that beloved “First Nations First” principle that sounds so good on paper. The four other principles are: ‘Support sustainable growth’, ‘Advocate for culture’s value’, ‘Embrace the wider creative industries’, and ‘Global reach’. I’ll spare you the blurbs for these noble aims.
…What’s important to recognise is that Creative Communities serves as a conduit for channelling funds into the Minister’s pet programs. It allows the government to direct money anywhere it desires, into the western suburbs, First Nations projects, or indeed, the night-time economy. If I were of a narrow frame of mind, I’d also suspect it allows for extra tax-payers’ money to be handed over, indirectly, to the Powerhouse, which will play host for a good deal of this activity.
…As it stands, the Powerhouse is already one of the winners in the Budget, receiving a handy $207 million over the next four years to help pay for the monumental act of vandalism called Powerhouse Ultimo, which the government prefers to call a “revitalisation”. It’s a description that bears comparison with Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.
…The Powerhouse is the fulcrum of all arts funding problems in NSW. Over the past decade it has absorbed a gargantuan amount of public money with very little to show for it. When CEO Lisa Havilah was recently obliged to suspend her “Associates” program, which has handed at least $2.6 million to a small group of people with whom she had previously declared possible conflicts of interest, it was the first minor setback in what has been a campaign of pillage and plunder that puts Genghis Khan and the Mongols to shame. Nevertheless, I imagine it’s only a passing irritation, and Lisa will find ingenious ways to keep paying the people she likes. After all, most of them have lifestyles to support.
…Not much ingenuity should be required, because – as this Budget makes clear – the government are right on board with everything she wants to do. What we don’t see in the Budget is the amount of money the state government is paying the Daily Telegraph to write puff pieces on the Powerhouse project. According to ever-helpful AI, the Tele has published hundreds of positive articles on Powerhouse Parramatta over the past decade. Some of these pieces are classified as Partner Content (ie. paid advertisements), but many are simply allowed to run as news, as part of a gung-ho “championing” of the western suburbs – where a large part of the newspaper’s readership resides.
…Even when Powerhouse Parramatta finally opens later this year, it will be a hungry beast that needs to keep sucking on the public teat because most of Ms. Havilah’s programs and policies have a high probability of being unsustainable. The government persists in claiming the building will attract 2 million visitors in the first year, which is pie-in-the-sky, but even if it did achieve that feat, the numbers will plummet dramatically after everyone has paid a visit, while the running costs will keep clicking over like the meter on a distressingly long taxi ride.
….Judging by the volume of propaganda we’re already seeing in the Telegraph and elsewhere, we can be sure that Powerhouse Parramatta will be acclaimed as a massive success for the first 3-6 months, or until reality bites.
…It’s all part of the NSW government’s signature policy of punishing success and rewarding mismanagement. This has seen the most successful and well-run regional galleries suffer huge cuts or be defunded altogether. For meekly submitting to budget cuts and making do with less, the AGNSW gets a further cut. For bringing in audiences and working within budgets, the Australian Museum gets a cut. Let’s not mention the Museum of Contemporary Art, which should rightfully be in intensive care by now.
… To sample how the more privileged institution is treated, I’m going to draw on only one set of figures former Powerhouse curator, Kylie Winkworth, has sent me, looking at Powerhouse Publications. In the 2022-23 annual report, we learn that sales from three publications earned a grand total of $13,000, against costs of $349,000, up from $211,000 in 2021-22. This doesn’t count the salaries of five people working in publishing. The following year, publications were down to two, at a modest outlay of $248,000, against sales of $12,000.
… Even I can do these the sums. Over two years that’s $597,000 in costs minus $25,000 in revenue, for a total loss of $572,000. Not many state-sponsored organisations would be allowed to hand in such figures and continue to expect huge sums of money of public money, no questions asked. This example from one Powerhouse department is repeated across the entire organisation if one looks carefully at expenses versus revenues. The issue of salaries and many of the fanciful new roles and positions that have been allotted to people with no museum experience whatsoever, is worthy of a study in its own right.
… The ‘arts and culture’ component of the Budget conforms to the same thinking that has characterised John Graham’s every move as Minister for the Arts. The overriding belief is that art and culture are phenomena that have value as a means of social control. It’s assumed that history and heritage are of no interest to the bulk of the electorate, so one need not spend money supporting traditional museums and art galleries. These old things can be left to gather dust in a corner, assisted by a few wealthy donors who haven’t kept up with the latest trends. The real funding priorities are lifestyle-and-event-generated: rave parties, festivals, rock or hip hop concerts, poetry slams, cooking classes, gardening, sport, sport and more sport. The most spectacular example may be Premier Minns’s Trumpian affection for UFC cage fighting, which he has subsidised to the tune of $16 million. At least he didn’t erect a huge stadium on Macquarie Street.
… Lisa Havilah’s “vision” for the Powerhouse rings all the Minister’s bells because it dispenses with the institution’s charter and responsibilities as a museum. The Powerhouse is being reinvented as a venue, a function centre, in which exhibitions are of mere entertainment value. The new form of exhibition will be less concerned with scholarship or aesthetics, than responsive to all the things currently considered cool, from Indigenous knowledges to science fiction to celebrities. The major difference will be the expense, with a proposed show on shopping malls projected to cost 3-4 times more than the NGV’s Cartier blockbuster.
…. Mr. Graham and his minions obviously believe they are the supreme rulers of arts and culture in NSW, able to reward friends and punish enemies at will. In most cases they don’t appear to be motivated by any special animus – they simply don’t value organisations such as the regional galleries or the Australian Design Centre and feel no need to spend money in these areas.
…. But when it comes to the things the government truly loves, such as Powerhouse Parramatta, festivals in the western suburbs, ‘contemporary music’, or the night-time economy, there are no bounds to its largesse. It’s a breathtaking display of arrogance, that in political terms translates into a form of totalitarian behaviour in which the ruling party pays no attention to its critics or its victims; being ready break promises at will, or to mislead parliament and press, as has consistently been the case with the Powerhouse.
… It would be ironic if the government became a victim of its own hubris for abandoning those people with an interest in the arts who habitually vote Labor, only to be invariably betrayed. This time the betrayal has been so far-reaching it has the potential to mobilise a popular audience who know nothing about art but have an absolute conviction that their taxpayer dollars should not be spent on projects that claim to be all sweetness and light but give off a sickly whiff of corruption.
READ THE FULL REPORT HERE, and HERE: John McDonald. 29 June Bugling the Budget

ALSO: read Save the Powerhouse’s  perceptive summary of McDonald’s article, on Facebook:
READ HERE: 8 July, 2026: https://www.facebook.com/savethepowerhouse ,
and HERE: Save the Powerhouse 8 July, 2026

22 June 2026
DESTRUCTION OF THE POWERHOUSE MUSEUM IN ULTIMO
COSTS 6 TIMES THE PRICE OF BUILDING IT
Save the Powerhouse Museum campaign group report on their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/savethepowerhouse , and in their email savethepowerhouse@gmail.com, that:
‘The transformation in the 1980s of the former Ultimo Power Station into a world-class museum, including the construction of the “Wran heritage” additions – the Wran Building and Galleria – cost $80 million (in 1984 dollars), equivalent to approximately $312 million today. The Powerhouse Museum opened in 1988 with 25 exhibitions across 20,000m² of exhibition space, all built to museum-standard climate-control specifications (exhibition space later expanded to 21,080 m² in 2011–12).
This represents a construction cost of approximately $15,600/m2 of exhibition space in today’s dollars. The cost of developing the 25 opening exhibitions was $28 million (in 1988 dollars), equivalent to about $81 million today, or $3.2 million per exhibition. Their installation involved major engineering and curatorial achievements, including moving full-sized trains into the building, suspending aircraft—including the mighty Catalina—from the ceiling, installing large steam engines such as the invaluable Boulton & Watt engine, and constructing a steam-generation system to operate them. During its 34 years of operation, the Museum welcomed more than 20 million visitors, despite suffering over a decade of neglect under both the current Labor Government and its Coalition predecessor.
By comparison, the (official) cost of the Parramatta “milk crate by the river” project is $915 million, excluding exhibitions (which were included in the original estimate). It will provide only 5,200 m² of museum-standard exhibition space—equivalent to approximately $176,000/m2, more than 10 times the cost of a square meter of exhibition space in the original Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo. The Parramatta facility is expected to open with just 5 exhibitions. These are estimated to cost $50 million, in addition to the $18 million already spent on the steel structure for “Task Eternal’, bringing the total exhibition-related cost to $68 million, or approximately $13.6 million per exhibition—more than 4 times the average cost of an opening exhibition at Ultimo. The (official) budget of the so-called “revitalisation” of the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo is $300 million (in fact it is closer to $400 million). It has entirely destroyed the “Wran heritage” – Wran Building and Galleria but also all the interiors of the old power plant from which it was transformed into a world class museum – but also will reduce the 21,080m2 of exhibition to a mere 5,100m2 (divided by 4!). Hence a cost of $60,000/m2 of exhibition space – i.e. nearly 4 times the cost of the original Powerhouse Museum.
There is no exhibition project yet and, of course, no budget for it.
This unprecedented asset destruction will have cost close to $2 billion (6 times the price of building the original museum in Ultimo!) and none of the resulting establishments in Ultimo, Parramatta or Castle Hill will be a museum.
How could such an enormous waste of taxpayers’ money proceed without a large public outcry, serious media scrutiny, or intervention by oversight authorities?
We believe the answer lies in the veil of secrecy that has shrouded the project from its very beginning more than eleven years ago. Labor’s pre-electoral promise to “release key details of the plans for the Ultimo and Parramatta sites that until now have been kept secret (by the Coalition)” has only been met with even more opacity.
Just months away from the opening of the “Parramatta milkcrate” we still have no details or even theme for the 5 announced exhibitions beside some PR spin on the very expensive “Task Eternal”.
In comparison the 25 opening exhibitions of the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo had been planned and made public years in advance as the museum was designed around them.
A 36-page “Overview Report” published in June 1984 – 4 years before the 1988 opening – details these exhibitions which ranged from Bringing People Together (Transport and Space Exploration) to Science, Technology and Perception, Everyday Life in Australia, Creativity and Australian Achievement, and Decorative Arts, i.e. covering the full Applied Arts and Sciences’ spectrum.’   READ HERE:  Save the PHM Destruction costs

14 June, 2026
2GB Interview: ‘Powerhouse Museum: Past Present and Future?’
Kylie Winkworth is interviewed by radio presenter Luke Grant and historian Jim Haynes, in ‘Weekends with Luke Grant’ on 2GB Radio.
A well-known museum heritage consultant, and former Powerhouse Museum trustee, ‘Kylie Winkworth’s expertise is in policy, strategy and planning for heritage collections and museums, including infrastructure, staffing and funding’, and she is an active member of the Powerhouse Museum Alliance.
Read the full transcript (1760 words) HERE:  Kylie interview 2GB
And listen to the interview HERE http://tiny.cc/cr25101: or HERE:

This interview covers a number of questions including:
– the significance of the PHM as a long-standing national museum, based in a state capital city, with a unique combination of collection themes;
– a strong reputation following reopening in the Powerhouse building in Ultimo in 1988;
– concerns about the changing attitude in the museum management and to future programming;
– the inappropriate relocation to Parramatta which deserves its own museum;
– strong opposition to the demolition taking place on the ‘saved’ site in Ultimo, in the Sydney CBD and its unclear future purpose;
– and the notable changes in staff roles and responsibilities, with not all experienced in the museum’s collection, relevant audiences and exhibition purposes.

Some issues are summarised here:
2GB: … You know, the Powerhouse, of course, was about the future and interactive. But the word museum actually means to ponder the past. And I think that is really as important with a Powerhouse museum as any other. We’ve got to keep, you know, that history and knowledge of how it used to be. Otherwise, we won’t understand where we’re going … So the question we’ve got for you today, and we’ve got time to talk about this, is why is it moving? And perhaps, before we get to that, you tell me why it’s so special.
KW: Oh, I think that’s beautifully expressed. We learn from the past and it helps shape our decisions about the future. …Well, it’s one of a handful of museums of applied arts and sciences across the world. And it’s Australia’s only applied arts and sciences museum. And what’s important about that is the way it makes the connection between science and innovation and technology and the industrial and subsequent revolutions and design and the way we live today. And so it’s a completely unique institution in Australia and one of a handful in the world. So that’s one thing.
When the Powerhouse museum opened as a reinvigoration of the mission and ethos of the old Technological museum on Harris Street, the museum’s DNA was reinvented in the most exciting way. And all the things that we loved about that museum, the range of items, the surprising conjunction, the capacity to understand and look at how things work and how they’re made, the interactivity, all of that was most beautifully reimagined and presented in a building that was purpose designed for particularly the transport and power collection, on a site that was essentially about transport and power. And those collections are of international significance. So the working steam engines, it was one of the few museums in the world that had such an important collection of steam engines operating under live steam. And then the most extraordinary collection of transport items, including one of the C-class trams that operated out of the tram depot next door.

2GB: Now, when I first heard this, this was a long time ago, that they’re going to move the museum, the first thing I thought, and maybe I’m naive, was why on earth would you want to pack up and move something because Sydney’s expanded and people in the west deserve museums? Why not give them their own? ….
KW: Well, that’s the question that everybody was asking … Because when this all surfaced, the museum was a little more than 30 years old in state-of-the-art premises with a suite of exhibitions and ways of working, best practice facilities, a museum that completely redefined what museums could be for Australia. It had a national impact on museums and galleries in Australia for the quality of its storytelling and interpretation. So we all said, why not a new museum? Parramatta has such extraordinary history, both its pre-contact history and its history since 1788 and its development in a way that secured the future of the colony in its early years. It’s extraordinary interesting multicultural history, also dating from its first years of settlement. So why not a new museum? Because New South Wales has really glaring gaps in its museum, in its framework of museums. We have no museum responsible for New South Wales history. We have museums of history in New South Wales, but that’s a collection of house museums and historic buildings and they don’t have responsibility for collecting history. So what the people of Parramatta wanted was a museum of New South Wales, and they said that very clearly through consultations. But everything that experts and the community said across the tragic 11 years of this saga has been ignored. And this has gone on in a way that, in my view, is an extraordinary public deception. The Powerhouse Museum is not moving. What’s left of the Powerhouse Museum is in storage at Castle Hill. The actual museum in Ultimo has been completely demolished, not even down to the bare brick shell of the former Ultimo power station as if it had never existed. The wastage of high-quality cultural infrastructure built for a working life of 100 years, only 34 years old at the time the museum was closed when Labor promised to keep the museum open. The wastage is absolutely shocking.

2GB: Do we know what state the exhibits are in, Kylie? Do you have intel?
KW: Well, we have heard that there’s been damage to objects in the move, particularly in the last phases of the move to get rid of all the collections of Ultimo so they could set about their museum demolition project. But it’s also what it represents in terms of the demolition of an historic state cultural institution. And what New South Wales needed was a project that added to the suite of museums in New South Wales because we know, and Jim knows, we know, that visitors are interested in visiting history and heritage sites. It’s the number one interest of high-paying cultural tourists to New South Wales. And yet we’re in the bottom 20% of global peer cities for the number of museums.

2GB: It was almost as if we were being told, oh, the maritime museums are the eastern suburbs, the CBD’s got all this stuff, it’s too much. We have to take some of it away and give it to these poor people out in the western suburbs. And you’re so right about Parramatta … It’s got the oldest cemetery, it’s got the oldest graves, it’s got government house. So it made perfect sense to do something new and different out there.
KW: Yes, and it’s got a number of World Heritage listed buildings and it has the opportunity to add the 1818 female factory to the World Heritage list if the New South Wales government wasn’t planning to fill that landscape with high-rise. So the opportunities for Parramatta to be a major tourism destination were there staring at the government in the face. Labor came to power promising to save the museum. They’d already made the decision on putting the so-called Parramatta powerhouse on the banks of the Parramatta River in a high-risk flood zone. So that was undoable. But I still think there was a chance for Parramatta to have a new cultural institution that actually added to the suite of cultural offerings because a city that doesn’t explain its history and where it’s come from is a city that in some ways has no soul.

2GB: … I have heard the story that the Powerhouse Museum was underperforming. Now, I don’t know why or how you place a dollar value on your history and the heritage, but that itself is a furphy, is it not?
KW: Absolutely. Yes, yes. It was underperforming under the leadership of the current management because they failed to understand the museum’s audiences. The leader of the museum has been frank about not bothering to listen to people or consult. And so what people are getting at Parramatta is what our CEO thinks they should get. There’s no relationship to the Cabinet-approved STEM museum, as far as I can see, because much of the planning is wrapped in secrecy. But under the current leadership, the museum visitor numbers dropped to the lowest since 1960, and there’s been an enormous decline in education visitation. So the failures, the alleged failures of the museum are actually the poor performance of the current management, but they’ve been gifted with what’s going to cost New South Wales taxpayers the best part of $2 billion by the time it’s finished. And we won’t have a museum at Ultimo. That’s clearly been adapted to a theatre facility, although the government doesn’t want to fess up to that. $2 billion to not have one.

2GB: So we spend a lot of money and we lose them. And do you think that this is part of the… Because I was talking to somebody about the Observatory and they cleared out everything from there, all the flags that were used to signal the ships coming into Sydney, etc., etc. I’ve been told that it was all… It’s all gone. It’s just, you know, was just thrown out. And there seems to be a sort of great sense of shame about anything to do with our colonial past at the moment.
KW: … We’ve been very concerned about the performance at the Observatory, which has been basically used for nighttime entertainment and artists and for ordinary families to go there. It’s the best part of $120 [for family of four for a night-time tour; free in the daytime]..  So the Observatory has had a huge decline in visitor numbers. …I’m not surprised to hear that the site’s history has been put at risk because I asked to see some of those documents in a Kipper and it was refused. [More information about maintenance and programming to be supplied later online.)

2GB: So they don’t want to tell you what they’re actually doing.
Kylie, great to talk to you again. Thank you so much for your time. That’s an eye-opener for everyone.

Later, Save the Powerhouse Museum summarised on its Facebook page:
‘The failure to understand the purpose of museums as places to “ponder the past” and shape the future and the persistent confusion by the NSW Government and the MAAS leadership between museums and entertainment venues—has resulted in the destruction of a major historic state cultural institution. In the process, more than $2 billion of taxpayers’ money has been squandered on unsustainable white-elephant projects that will haunt the NSW arts budget for decades to come. Well said everyone.’

9 June, 2026 (10 in print)
‘Kylie Kwong among consultants dumped as Powerhouse cuts controversial program’
In the Sydney Morning Herald, Linda Morris writes that ‘After five years, the Powerhouse Museum is axing a highly contentious $2.6 million artistic consultants’ program amid criticism that the institution was “outsourcing by stealth” and calls by a parliamentary inquiry for greater transparency and accountability. Artist Agatha Gothe-Snape, chef Kylie Kwong, photographer Zan Wimberley and former book publisher Julie Gibbs are among nine creatives hired as artistic associates to collaborate with the Powerhouse’s curatorial, collections, writing, exhibitions and public programming teams over the lifespan of the initiative…’.
Morris then brings together considerable public criticism of the management and costs of the new Museum site, and the very often inappropriate choice of staff for future roles. She adds: ‘Since 2020, the program has been a source of deep internal tension with the Public Service Association (PSA). The union told a recent parliamentary inquiry that its members believed the associates were performing the duties of public servants, including those of in-house, professionally accredited curators.’
And, with reference to the recent government inquiry by Portfolio Committee No. 6 – Transport and the Arts, detailed earlier on this PMA news link, she notes: ‘The inquiry into arts funding recommended the museum restore and retain specialised in-house curatorial expertise and positions consistent with the museum’s legislative purpose. It called for the museum to publish the cost, purpose, duration, selection process and “deliverables of artistic associate and similar externally engaged roles, and ensure such roles supplement rather than replace core curatorial functions”. … “This has clearly been outsourcing by stealth,” PSA assistant secretary Troy Wright told the parliamentary hearing into arts funding in December. “It is also clear that the cost of these roles is a major concern. In the course of the past four years, spending on these roles has skyrocketed.” Among details of costs, Morris includes: ‘In its first year (the 2021-22 financial year), four artistic associates cost the museum $142,000. At its peak last financial year, the museum spent $871,226 on six associates … Inclusive of licensing fees, this brings payments to a total of $2.6 million’, and ‘ …The NSW Audit Office has previously been critical of spending on consultants, estimating that government agencies spent $1 billion on consultancies from 2017-18 to 2021-22.’
Among many other comments, Morris includes: ‘In a sector where hundreds of artists compete for small grants, “it is simply not acceptable for large payments to consultants to be kept secret, particularly when the public is being asked to trust that this money delivers cultural value”, inquiry chair and Greens MP Cate Faehrmann said. “Unfortunately, though, this reflects a growing trend by the Minns government to avoid scrutiny of its decisions by preventing citizens and members of parliament from accessing documents they should ordinarily be entitled to receive, and which are in the public interest to be released.” ‘
Meanwhile: ‘Conflict-of-interest documents that were released show chief executive Lisa Havilah declared prior and current professional relationships with Wimberley, Gothe-Snape and two other associates in January 2022 as part of the expression-of-interest process. Before 2025, the museum said such declarations were covered by the institution’s standard code of conduct supplemented by annual disclosures … Havilah said that during the associates’ program, the museum’s curatorial team expanded from 20 to 32 full-time curators, employed in more generalist roles focused on exhibition making and collection development. The union says many of these new roles went to those without professional curatorial academic qualifications. … A union spokesperson said it was glad to see the program end: “The program was a consultancy exercise, and our members were directed to report to the associates, despite them not being employees. The associates appear to have been among the better-paid consultants in the NSW government, and the PSA would much rather see that funding go toward employing people permanently in professional museum roles.” ‘
For many further details,  READ HERE and HERE: L Morris SMH 9 June 2026
PMAlliance notes that these observations are much agreed with by those who are very familiar with the way the collection was formerly central to the programs of the Museum, and the contributions of knowledgeable staff who managed the exhibitions and projects associated with all aspects of it.

9 June, 2026
PHM’s “CONTENTIOUS” $2.6 MILLION ARTISTIC CONSULTANTS’ PROGRAMME AXED
Very active campaigners, Save the Powerhouse Museum, also distributed Linda Morris’ article (above) by email and Facebook, as it reinforced their longstanding criticism of the plans for ‘Powerhouse Parramatta’, and what appears to be the evolving destruction of much of its well-regarded Ultimo site.
They wrote: ‘Previously we reported that the NSW Government was promoting the forthcoming Parramatta “milkcrate by the river” — due to open at the end of 2026 — with celebrity cooks Kylie Kwong and Stephanie Alexander extolling the virtues of its rooftop garden. As we observed at the time, this was further proof, if needed, that Powerhouse CEO Lisa Havilah had no intention of operating the facility as a real museum, let alone as a STEM museum.’ Watch 9 News of 20 February HERE.
They also remind us that: ‘The programme was highly criticised in the NSW Legislative Council’s Portfolio Committee No. 6 (Transport and the Arts)’s final report on their “Structure and funding of the arts, music, night time economy, and transport portfolios” inquiry.’  READ REPORT HERE. 
And they point out that: ‘Above all the report (recommendation 16 page 98) found that “significant curatorial expertise has been lost due to restructuring, attrition and reallocation of roles” and noted “concerns regarding recruitment practices and the appointment of individuals without traditional museum experience to senior or specialist roles, resulting in deskilling and potential risk to the museum’s operational capacity.” It noted further (recommendation 17 page 99) “that the committee considers that public confidence in the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences will depend on clear evidence that strategic decisions, programming choices and staffing structures remain anchored to the institution’s legislative purpose (MAAS Act 1945) collections responsibilities and long-term public value.” Read MAAS ACT HERE.
Save also notes: ‘In her final report’s foreword (page xi), the Committee’s Chair Cate Faehrmann MLC observed that “major organisational restructures (at the Powerhouse Museum) are proceeding without adequate transparency.” Lack of transparency and accountability has been the hallmark of the Minns Government despite its pre-election promise to end the “shroud of secrecy that the (Coalition) NSW Government has sought to apply across the operations of the Powerhouse Museum for the past 12 years.”
But the “shroud of secrecy” is still very much in place since Morris reports that “the museum has refused the Herald’s application under freedom-of-information laws for full disclosure of total payments to (Chef Kylie) Kwong, (Artist Agatha) Gothe-Snape and (Photographer Zan) Wimberley. Further, Morris also reveals that “conflict-of-interest documents that were released show chief executive Lisa Havilah declared prior and current professional relationships with Wimberley, Gothe-Snape and two other associates in January 2022”, an indication of possible nepotism within the public institution. $2 billion of taxpayers money has been wasted demolishing a world class museum and replacing it with 2 “entertainment” centres.
Save the Powerhouse, and many others, have long highlighted malpractice, in the doomed process. Perhaps it might finally come to light?’
READ ALL HERE: Save the Powerhouse 9 June 2026

8 June, 2026
New Jobs at Powerhouse, advertised on PHM LinkedIn site
On the Powerhouse Museum’s LinkedIn site, as well as many news items over the last 12 months, regarding developments in Parramatta and with some reference to the Ultimo site, recent posts advertise many new staff positions crossing a wide range of responsibilities. While many professionally experienced subject curators across the collection have not been replaced for both exhibition and collection development responsibilities operating together, rather than separated as has occurred recently, and with their lost positions not specifically identified here, the advertisements include for: Garden program, Archives, Academy & Residency Operations, Senior Full Stack Engineer, Head of Communications, Program Producer, Festivals & Major Event  – and many more. To see the Listing with details and weblinks go to Posts HERE, with an edited listing HERE: PHM New jobs.2026  See within on June 3, 2026, ‘Powerhouse Parramatta announces a smorgasbord of Australian design’ Powerhouse Parramatta has commissioned more than 50 leading designers from across Australia to shape the spaces and experiences of the new museum, including public, exhibition, restaurant and retail spaces.
And READ HERE:  50 Powerhouse Parra Designers
PMAlliance adds: ‘Despite the generous funding for these positions (alongside much defunding of museums and galleries in regional NSW), the subjects of the (only) five opening exhibitions have not been clearly announced, apart from Task Eternal, the $18m costly Aerospace Exhibition. Do they cross the breadth of the collection? While the Parramatta site may well be attractive to visit, with its range of entertainment, and with a political focus on Western Sydney, is it really to be the state Museum it was in Ultimo, providing outstanding background and engagement with the broad collection across past and present (and opening with 25 exhibitions in 1988)?’

May 2026
Pros and Cons: Forthcoming opening of ‘Powerhouse Parramatta’
During the last week in May 2026, a number of announcements were made regarding the upcoming opening of the Parramatta Powerhouse (Museum) in late 2026.
In well over a decade, protests have been made about closing the existing city site in Ultimo in the Sydney CBD, and its relocation to Parramatta. In the early stages this move was identified as ‘money in the city and votes in the west’.
But even after the new arts minister John Graham agreed to ‘Save’ it in the city, from what previous arts minister Don Harwin proposed as a Lyric Theatre and Fashion Hub, many broken promises have taken place, including reduction of future Ultimo exhibition space by 75%, demolition of its award-winning buildings from the 1988 opening, relocation of the entire collection to the distant Castle Hill storage space, and grave doubts about the proposed program in either site.
Indeed, despite information supplied on-line by the Museum, (for example, see 1 May Media Release HERE and HERE: PHM Media release 1 May  it does appear that both sites will be arts entertainment centres, with continuing lack of commitment to background historical information of ‘applied arts, design and industry’, and their ongoing contemporary relevance. These were the much-appreciated focus of the former Powerhouse Museum’s program from its reopening in 1988 with 25 exhibitions, both ‘permanent changing’ and ‘temporary’, highly professional staff across all fields, and many continuing public engagements. SEE LIST HERE 1988-2018:  Powerhouse Museum exhibitions 1988-2018 – 12 Nov 18
Concerns about the future of both Ultimo and Parramatta museum programs and management have been documented in the recent Government Inquiry: SEE below for Report Tabled, 28 April 2026.

NOW – what is proposed in Parramatta?
Three entries are provided below, and our very experienced colleagues and wide audiences continue to express doubts about the Museum’s continuing relevance in Parramatta, as a major state museum also with a former national and international reputation, because:
–   Despite vast financial costs of development, only five exhibitions will be part of the opening, and represent very little of the broad collection. It announces: ‘Powerhouse Parramatta will open with 5 international exhibitions that reflect the ambition of the museum across the applied arts and sciences, culture, industry and innovation. It has been developed in collaboration with the communities of Western Sydney, and local and international collaborators. The full program will be announced later in 2026.’ SEE HERE: and HERE: Powerhouse Parramatta
–   The focus appears to be very much on a Western Sydney audience, which is the role of a regional museum, and not a state museum. Parramatta should have its local museum as in other council areas and state regions (even though it appears that many have been defunded to enable this development.) This state museum should remain in the Sydney CBD, as with other state cultural institutions.
–   Emphasis very much appears to be on entertainment, rather than drawing on the acknowledged former role of the Museum and the significance of its collection, with its background and continuing relevance to audiences including designers, makers, collectors, historians and educators.
–   As the collection was removed to storage in Castle Hill, and some major transport and industrial items were relocated in regional museum storage, concerns have been expressed about the potential dangers to their safety in transport and storage – and exhibition.
See three entries below:

1: 19 May, 2026
‘Indigenous artists snubbed for $700,000 Powerhouse Parramatta ‘welcome’ sculpture’
Linda Morris recorded in the Sydney Morning Herald, that ‘Indian artist Bharti Kher is creating a monumental, multi-headed bronze sculpture to serve as an official public “welcome” to the new $1 billion Powerhouse Parramatta, as the museum makes its pitch to become a global tourism attraction. Months ahead of the museum’s grand opening, details have been unveiled on Kher’s Tree of Life, one of four major international major artworks or installations destined for the taxpayer-funded museum, which when opened later this year will be Australia’s largest.’ And ‘… Powerhouse chief executive Lisa Havilah defended the decision to extend the commission to an international artist, rather than a local or First Nations practitioner, noting Kher’s status as one of India’s most significant contemporary voices, and the museum’s international reach.’
Of concern to many museum followers across the state of NSW, who have been critical of defunding some regional museums and galleries, Morris also noted that ‘The Kher work will stand in place for three years, its $700,000 cost inclusive of an artist’s fee, construction and installation.’
And, Morris reminded readers: ‘… The museum’s leadership came in for strong criticism from the Public Service Union and other groups during a parliamentary inquiry hearing last December for drifting into the realm of arts, fashion, culture and performance, rather than the applied arts and sciences with focus on engineering and technology. Havilah disputes the museum is straying from its legislative mandate and says it is developing programs that balance science and the applied arts.’   Read HERE, and HERE:  SMH 19 May L Morris

2: 22 May, 2026
‘Why are three heritage planes dangling from a ceiling in Parramatta?’
‘Replica Planes wing in to boost Powerhouse funding’ (in print)
Linda Morris documents in the Sydney Morning Herald, information supplied by the Powerhouse Museum on its website (https://powerhouse.com.au/) and Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/powerhousemuseum) , about one of the five proposed opening exhibitions for Powerhouse Parramatta: ‘Task Eternal,  exploring space and flight’, and some of the  financial issues underlying it.
She reports: ‘Western Sydney’s first cultural institution has taken delivery of a twin wing aircraft borrowed under a $5 million partnership deal with Qantas that the Powerhouse Museum says brings it closer to hitting its target for private fundraising. The historic Qantas Avro 504K aircraft, a replica of the national carrier’s first plane, has joined two other aircraft from the museum’s collection – an Autogiro – a forerunner of the helicopter – and an ultralight Skycraft Scout Mark 1 designed and made by aviation pioneer Ron Wheeler. All three have been suspended in a stack from the roof of the museum’s largest presentation space, the first objects to enter the massive column-free room.’
Regarding financing, Morris also notes that: ‘The Powerhouse has been set a target by NSW Treasury to raise $75 million towards the more than $1 billion building opening later this year. Of the $5 million investment, Graham’s office said: “This partnership takes the philanthropy total raised [by the Powerhouse] to $72.9 million.” A museum spokesperson later said the sum raised was contributed entirely in cash donations.’
And donors are to gain considerable recognition, for example: ‘… The Flying Kangaroo is the official presenting partner for the $18 million show, has naming rights over a public terrace overlooking the Parramatta River and will contribute to learning programs during the exhibition. In turn the Powerhouse will preserve and digitise more than 6000 pieces from the Qantas Heritage Collection, spanning more than a century of Australian aviation history. The Catalina seaplane has been moved to a volunteer-run museum on the South Coast while the Ultimo building is being rebuilt and will return there, not to Parramatta. The museum has also entered into a partnership with the Lang Walker Family Foundation, which has given $20 million to fund access to education experiences for more than 10,000 high school students every year – including overnight stays at the museum for many of these students. University of Western Sydney has made a contribution worth $10 million.
These agreements phase in funding and program support over 10 years. The University of NSW has received naming rights to St George’s Terrace, a dedicated community and learning space behind the museum’s historic facade.’
Further afield, as well as concerns about the future of other significant items in the aircraft collection, public concerns about the display of these aircraft include a need for specifications of climate and air quality in the display environment in Parramatta ‘egg-crate’ because of the long term vulnerability of the fabric in the three possibly ‘artistic-suspended’ aircraft, and provision of the context of their display – not a feature of current CEO’s interests.
 READ HERE and HERE:  SMH 22 May 2026 L Morris

3: 24 May, 2026
‘Powerhouse Parramatta Opening 2026: What To Expect From Sydney’s Biggest Museum’
‘Ellaslist is a leading Australian digital platform connecting families with the best activities, events, and experiences for children aged 0–15.’
While this organisation clearly lists interesting and engaging opportunities for children, questions still remain for continuation of the acknowledged role of the former Museum and the significance of its collection, with its background and continuing relevance to audiences including designers, makers, collectors, historians and educators.
Ellaslist, an on-line listing group for young people, wrote about the upcoming opportunity in Parramatta, saying: ‘It’s the opening we’ve all been talking about for years! Sydney’s west is about to get a serious cultural glow-up with the highly anticipated opening of Powerhouse Museum Parramatta. The long-awaited Powerhouse Parramatta is nearly here, and if you thought this was just another museum, think again. This is a full-blown cultural playground set to transform Parramatta’s riverfront and Sydney’s cultural and educational offering. Opening Date (And Why Everyone’s Talking About It)…’
In noting ‘What To Expect From the New Powerhouse Parramatta’, it says: First, let’s get to what NOT to expect — your run-of-the-mill, wander-through-and-whisper type of museum! Spread across a massive 18,000 square metres, Powerhouse Museum Parramatta is designed to be immersive, interactive and seriously future-focused. Part of the new digs will include:
–     Next-gen exhibition spaces built for large-scale, hands-on experiences.
–     12,000 square metres of public space, including a riverside green square.
–     A layout that blends culture, science, design and community into one seamless hub.
While the five opening exhibitions are not yet listed, it then continues to give details about some opportunities for possible involvement for children:
Task Eternal: World’s Most Ambitious Aerospace Exhibition
Set inside a massive, soaring gallery space, Task Eternal will invite curious kids (and grown-ups) to explore how we got to space… and where we might go next.
A Rooftop Worth The Hype:
Head upstairs, and things get even more interesting. The rooftop terrace is set to deliver near-360-degree views across Parramatta, with a lush garden filled with Indigenous plants, a greenhouse, water features and spaces for workshops and event
The Lang Walker Family Academy:
If you’ve got curious kids (or just love a hands-on experience), this is where things get really interesting. The Lang Walker Family Academy will be a major draw in Powerhouse Parramatta, offering interactive programs on food, sustainability, and science.
The Holdmark Gallery:
Art lovers, this one’s for you. The Holdmark Gallery will be one of the major exhibition spaces inside the new Powerhouse Parramatta, designed to host large-scale, ever-changing showcases spanning art, design, science and culture. There’ll be bold, immersive exhibitions rather than anything too traditional — this is a space built for big ideas and visually striking experiences that pull you in (and keep the kids engaged, too).
A Space For Curious Minds (Big and Small)
Powerhouse Parramatta is going all in on hands-on learning, with a purpose-built play and learning space dedicated to STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and maths). Designed for kids, it’s all about interactive discovery with tinkering, experimenting and getting stuck into ideas in a way that actually feels fun. Beyond that, the museum will also house versatile event and function spaces, meaning everything from workshops and talks to large-scale events and community gatherings will be part of the mix.
Read HERE, and HERE: PHM Parra Ellaslist May 2026

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2022, 2024: BACKGROUND APPROVALS FOR PARRAMATTA POWERHOUSE BUILDING DEVELOPMENT, and OPENING IN 2026
Leading to the recent announcements in May 2026 (above) about the opening of the Powerhouse {Parramatta (Museum) later in 2026 , these reports have contributed to the decisions made about the structure of the new Powerhouse Parramatta buildings, their relationship to adjacent historic buildings, and potential programs to be further identified.
2 October, 2024
‘Current Status:  Determination of the State Significant Development assessment on the proposal for Parramatta’
On 2 October, 2024, following further research and modifications to the 2022 report (below), a ‘Current Status:  Determination of the State Significant Development assessment on the proposal for Parramatta’, was published on the Planning Portal of the NSW governments major projects:  See HERE:  OR  HERE: (to come)
For headings for the document to read on-line, see below:

State Significant Development: Determination
Powerhouse Parramatta; City of Parramatta
Current Status: Determination
Interact with the stages for their names

1. SEARs
2. Prepare EIS
3. Exhibition
4. Collate Submissions
5. Assessment
6. Recommendation
7. Determination

• Assessment
• Post Approval
• Compliance
• Submissions

Site preparation works including demolition of all structures and tree removal, construction, operation and use of the Powerhouse Parramatta, public domain works and use, vehicular access, infrastructure works and signage zones
Consolidated Consent
Consolidated Conditions Holder blank View

Modifications (and Determinations)
Powerhouse Parramatta MOD 1 – St George’s Terrace and Eastern Roof Area
Powerhouse Parramatta MOD 2 – Height and construction hours
Powerhouse Parramatta MOD 3 – Retail fit-out

Archive: (many details supplied)
Early Consultation (1)
Request for SEARs (4)
SEARs (1)
EIS (37)
Response to Submissions (24)
Agency Advice (10)
Additional Information (22)
Determination (8)
 Related Projects:
Project Details (can open on-line for viewing)
Application Number
SSD-10416-Mod-1
SSD-10416-Mod-2
SSD-10416-Mod-3
Last Modified On 02/10/2024
View project on map
SSD-10416-Mod-3

August, 2022
‘Powerhouse Parramatta Modification 1
St George’s Terrace and Eastern Roof Area State Significant Development Modification Assessment ‘(SSD-10416 MOD 1)
Published by the NSW Department of Planning and Environment dpie.nsw.gov.au  this report documents the ‘assessment of an application to modify the State significant development (SSD) consent for the Parramatta Powerhouse development’.
READ IN FULL HERE: or HERE:  SSD-10416 MOD 1 Assessment Report
Summary of headings below:
1 Introduction
This report provides the NSW Department of Planning and Environment’s (the Department’s) assessment of an application to modify the State significant development (SSD) consent for the Parramatta Powerhouse development (SSD-10416).  The modification application seeks approval for amendments to the roof of the eastern building, partial demolition, fit-out and use of St George’s Terrace and associated changes to conditions of consent.  The application was lodged on 7 February 2022 by Ethos Urban, on behalf of Infrastructure NSW (the Applicant), pursuant to section 4.55(1A) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act).
1.1 Background
The site is in the northern end of the Parramatta Central Business District (CBD) at 30B, 34, 36-38, 40, 42 and 44-54 Phillip Street in the Parramatta local government area (LGA). It is approximately 20 kilometres (km) west of the Sydney CBD and Parramatta Station is located 520 metres (m) to the south (Figure 1).  The site is bound by Parramatta River to the north, Wilde Avenue to the east and Phillip Street to the south. Mixed use development at 330-338 Church Street and the Park Royal Hotel adjoins the sites western boundary (Figure 2).  The site is currently under construction and all existing structures have been demolished or removed from the site, with the exception of St Georges Terrace on the corner of Phillip Street and Wilde Avenue. Willow Grove has been dismantled and is currently in storage and will be reconstructed in a new location within the local Parramatta area in accordance with the development consent.

Contents
1 Introduction ·······································································································1
1.1 Background …………………………………………………………………………………………1
1.2 Approval history……………………………………………………………………………………2
1.3 Conditions relevant to this application ……………………………………………….2
2 Proposed modification ····················································································3
3 Statutory context ·······························································································7
3.1 Scope of modifications …………………………………………………………………………7
3.2 Consent authority …………………………………………………………………………………7
3.3 Mandatory matters for consideration ……………………………………………………7
4 Engagement ········································································································· 8
4.1 Department’s engagement …………………………………………………………………….8
4.2 Agency advice ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 8
4.3 Public submissions ……………………………………………………………………………….. 9
4.4 Response to submissions ………………………………………………………………………9
5 Assessment ········································································································   10
5.1 Design Excellence ………………………………………………………………………………… 10
5.2 Heritage …………………………………………………………………………………………………14
5.3 Other issues ………………………………………………………………………………………… ..17
6 Evaluation ···········································································································- 20
7 Recommendation ································································································21
8 Determination ······································································································ 22
Appendices ···············································································································  23
Appendix A – List of referenced documents ………………………………………………….23
Appendix B – Statutory considerations …………………………………………………………23
Appendix C – Notice of modification ……………………………………………………………..27
Appendix D – Notice of Decision …………………………………………………………………….27

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29 April, 2026
Report tabled – Structure and funding of the arts, music, night-time economy, and transport portfolios
Following this Inquiry in late 2025 (see our website News Chronology 2025, October-December), Ms Cate Faehrmann MLC, Committee Chair of Portfolio Committee 6,  announced that the final report and its recommendations had been tabled and was now available to view on-line.
READ HERE: Email Fehrman
Faehrmann wrote: ‘I announce the release of the report of Portfolio Committee No. 6 – Transport and the Arts, entitled ‘Structure and funding of the arts, music, night-time economy, and transport portfolios’. The report was tabled with the Clerk of the Parliaments on 29 April 2026.
The report is available on our website along with submissions, transcripts of evidence and other inquiry documents. The report and its recommendations are now with the government for consideration. The government is required to respond to the recommendations within three months. You will be advised of the government response when it has been received. On behalf of the committee, I take this opportunity to thank you for your contribution to the inquiry. The committee has been greatly assisted by these contributions and we appreciate the time and effort taken by all those who have helped us with this important inquiry.’
Many of the submissions made  were from members of the Powerhouse Museum Alliance, and related organisations including Save the Powerhouse Museum, and have been critical of the future of the Powerhouse Museum in both Parramatta and Ultimo. The list also includes a further inclusion of submissions that had been invited to respond to some questions.
To follow up, SEE:
1. REPORT: On their  website, go to Report No 27:
Or HERE:Report 27 – PC 6 – Transport and the Arts – FINAL (5)
For reference to the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo, go to pp 85-100
2: SUBMISSIONS:  On website HERE , or read HERE Submissions.to Inquiry.2026
For reference to the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo, see 16, 24, 26,27, 36, 40, 46 ,  69, 76, 78, 79 … notably 16 (Save the PM)and 46 (PHM Alliance)
1: REPORT: 
With reference to the Powerhouse Museum (pages 85-100) read extracts from the Report summary and conclusions HERE: Portfolio Committee Report PHM details 
These include (in short details):
1.6: Several stakeholders, such as the Powerhouse Museum Alliance and the Save the Powerhouse campaign, expressed ongoing critical concerns about the Museum’s revitalisation projects, including:
–  the loss of significant heritage and diminished cultural value,
– a lack of sound governance and consultation, resulting in limited transparency and community engagement,
– the scale and cost of the projects, suggesting a lack of value for money, and
– the impact on museum collections, staff and institutional capability
[After many comments on details relating to these topics, they wrote further:…]
Recommendation 16:
That the NSW Government:
– commit to the full implementation of any findings and recommendations arising from the NSW Auditor-General’s audit of the effectiveness of the planning, design and construction for the Powerhouse Museum Parramatta and Ultimo projects
– publish updated public business case summaries for the Parramatta and Ultimo projects, including current total estimated cost, major scope changes, project timelines and key assumptitions conduct a forensic audit of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences’ operational expenditure to ensure that public funds are spent in accordance with the museum’s legislative obligations and strategic priorities.
Recommendation 17:
That the NSW Government require the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences to:
– prioritise restoring and retaining specialised in-house curatorial expertise and positions consistent with the museum’s legislative purpose
– publish the cost, purpose, duration, selection process and deliverables of artistic associate and similar externally engaged roles, and
– ensure such roles supplement rather than replace core curatorial functions.
They conclude:
– The committee considers that while the museum is undergoing a period of transition and renewal, there remains a need for clear alignment with its legislative purpose, strengthened governance and transparency, and a sustained focus on maintaining curatorial expertise and institutional knowledge. These elements will be critical to ensuring the long-term integrity, relevance and public value of the institution.
– Overall, the committee considers that public confidence in the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences will depend on clear evidence that strategic decisions, programming choices and staffing structures remain anchored to the institution’s legislative purpose, collections responsibilities and long-term public value.’
They recommend: See Submission 46 and 46a, Powerhouse Museum Alliance; Submission 16, Save the Powerhouse campaign; Submission 24, Ms Grace Cochrane AM; Submission 27, Mr Tom Lockley; Submission 36, Mr Garry Horvai; Submission 40, 40a and 40b, Dr Lindsay Sharp; Submission 69, Ms Elizabeth Elenius; Submission 76, Mr Andrew Grant; Submission 78, Ms Jennifer Sanders.

2: PMA SUBMISSIONS  PUBLISHED ON INQUIRY WEB PAGE:
14 November, 2025
Submission No 46:
INQUIRY INTO STRUCTURE AND FUNDING OF THE ARTS, MUSIC, NIGHT-TIME ECONOMY, AND TRANSPORT PORTFOLIOS
On behalf of the Powerhouse Museum Alliance, Jennifer Sanders, Kylie Winkworth, Dr Lindsay Sharp and Andrew Grant made this submission to the Inquiry: On website HERE , or read HERE Submissions.to Inquiry.2026
They addressed in particular, the following Terms of Reference:
(d) The operational, staffing and program impacts of budget and restructuring decisions on…(vi) the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (Powerhouse Museum)…
(e) The retention of professional expertise and institutional knowledge, including the adequacy of processes for knowledge transfer, mentoring and succession planning (
f) The extent to which restructures and workforce reductions have affected technical capacity, project delivery and service quality.
After eight pages of evidence, they concluded:
Summary statement
‘The impact of the loss of the Powerhouse Museum’s specialist expertise has been felt across the Museum: in its development, care and conservation of the collection, in the collection’s documentation and accessibility and, in the Museum’s lack of meaningful engagement with its core and diverse audiences. Instead, the current CEO and senior management have prioritised the employment of artists and ‘creatives’ who are invited to use the collection and the Museum’s resources and facilities for often arcane purposes that are not related to the Museum’s education mission and core audiences but are for the ‘creative enjoyment’ of an extremely limited audience. This current CEO-driven fundamental change to the Museum’s purpose, structure and programs has resulted in ‘exhibitions’ which are indulgent forays into the thoughts and reveries of contemporary artists, with little or no relevance to the Powerhouse Museum’s longstanding audiences and, at odds with the Museum’s Act and, importantly, its education remit. The current CEO has apparently retreated into her comfort zone of contemporary art and artists. The Powerhouse Museum Alliance calls on The Minister, The Hon John Graham, to replace the Powerhouse Museum’s Board of Trustees and senior management with people who have experience and knowledge of museums and their important role in society, as described in the International Council of Museum’s statement of purpose quoted at the beginning of this submission. Thank you for the opportunity to present this submission. Jennifer Sanders, Kylie Winkworth, Dr Lindsay Sharp and Andrew Grant on behalf of the Powerhouse Museum Alliance 14 November 2025’  READ ALL HERE: 0046 Mr Andrew Grant, Jennifer Sanders, Kylie Winkworth and Dr Lindsay Sharp

12 December, 2025
Supplementary submission: 46A
RESPONSE TO QUESTION FROM HON ANTHONY D’ADAM, MLC ‘WHAT WOULD THE PMA RECOMMEND BE DONE WITH PP AND PU?’
Following the original Submission No 46, a supplementary submission was made in response to a question from the committee: ‘WHAT WOULD THE PMA RECOMMEND BE DONE WITH Powerhouse Parramatta and Powerhouse Ultimo?’
After an extensive response, provided by Andrew Grant, Jennifer Sanders, Kylie Winkworth and Dr Lindsay Sharp on behalf of the Powerhouse Museum Alliance, they concluded:
Conclusion:
The PMA has lost confidence and trust in the management of MAAS. It is clear that management’s intention is to deindustrialise the Powerhouse Museum, bury the collections at Castle Hill and turn the museum into a contemporary arts organisation. The last five years has seen a pronounced decay in the operations and performance of the museum, reflected across all the key performance indicators. The management has shown no interest in the museum’s state-wide remit for applied arts and applied sciences, technology, history, or heritage collections. Priority has shifted to supporting artists and ‘creative industries’ under the misapprehension that MAAS is a ‘contemporary museum’. This is nonsense.
The Powerhouse Museum is Australia’s only museum of applied arts and applied sciences. It manages a heritage collection that reflects its history and education context in Ultimo since 1893 – deeply connected to technical education, trade and industry. [iv] The collection and the PHM cannot be separated from the museum’s history and home in Ultimo. The destructive heritage impacts of the wishful thinking that the museum can be moved and remade as a creative industries body are all too glaring in the destructive, deceptive and confusing Powerhouse Ultimo scheme. The concept of a contemporary museum patronising multi art form creative industries may be appropriate for the arts and performance facility planned for the Parramatta Powerhouse. But this has nothing to do with the legislated remit of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences. Creative industries are not applied arts.
It is time that Western Sydney has its own cultural institution based at Parramatta with a remit to work across Western Sydney supporting the creative talent and cultural life of the region’s diverse communities, with the capacity to draw on all the state’s collections for exhibition at Parramatta or other venues. The Parramatta Powerhouse development must be separated from MAAS and established with a unique name, identity, funding and governance arrangements.
It is untenable for the management to be operating outside the objects of the MAAS Act as is clearly the case with the Powerhouse Ultimo EIS. The SSD EIS is inconsistent with the statutory obligations of the MAAS Act and is therefore invalid. READ ALL HERE: 0046a Grant, Sanders, Winkworth and Dr Sharp

 4 May, 2026
FINAL REPORT RELEASED ON ARTS, MUSIC, NIGHT ECONOMY AND TRANSPORT
Save the Powerhouse Museum: With reference to the Final Report for the Inquiry by the NSW Legislative Council’s Portfolio Committee No. 6 (Transport and the Arts) (See our reference to 29 April above), into ‘Structure and funding of the arts, music, night time economy, and transport portfolios’, Save the Powerhouse Museum circulated (via email and Facebook) these comments on extracts from the Foreword, Report and Recommendations in the Report, with particular reference to the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo and Parramatta. They include:
‘In her foreword (page xi), the Committee’s Chair Cate Faehrmann MLC observes “that major organisational restructures are proceeding WITHOUT ADEQUATE TRANSPARENCY, and increasing pressure is being placed on both the workforce and the sectors they are intended to support.”
However, transparency was a key promise of the Minns Government when it declared, two days before the 2023 election (23 March http://tiny.cc/59r2101), that “the NSW Parliament Select Committee on the management of the Powerhouse Museum has revealed the shroud of secrecy that the (Coalition) NSW Government has sought to apply across the operations of The Powerhouse Museum for the past 12 years… A NSW Labor government will release key details of the plans for the Ultimo and Parramatta sites that until now have been kept secret.”’
‘The final report (recommendation 16 page 98) found that –
–       “Decisions related to the (MAAS) projects lacked adequate oversight, with updated business cases not publicly released.”
–       “Significant curatorial expertise has been lost due to restructuring, attrition and reallocation of roles.”
And noted “(stakeholder) concerns regarding recruitment practices and the APPOINTMENT OF INDIVIDUALS WITHOUT TRADITIONAL MUSEUM EXPERIENCE to senior or specialist roles, resulting in deskilling and potential risk to the museum’s operational capacity.”
It noted further (recommendation 17 page 99) “that the committee considers that public confidence in the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences will depend on clear evidence that strategic decisions, programming choices and staffing structures remain anchored to the institution’s legislative purpose (MAAS Act 1945 https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1945-031), collections responsibilities and long-term public value.”’
‘Unfortunately the Committee’s findings, which reflect the problems Save the Powerhouse, the Powerhouse Museum Alliance and many others have highlighted for the past 11 years, comes too late to change the situation.
The “Revitalisation” of the MAAS public institution –
–       Has cost the NSW taxpayer $2 Billion, resulting in drastic funding reductions of many other cultural institutions in NSW.
–       The Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo’s Wran extensions have been bulldozed to the ground and –
–       The Milkcrate in Parramatta, which is not a museum but an event and entertainment centre, is complete and is set to open at the end of 2026 (September according to Premier Minns?)
…Finally, Save is disappointed that the significant loss of heritage in Ultimo is ignored by the report. Probably because it was not considered as relevant to the Inquiry’s terms of reference.
Meanwhile the structural completion of the Milkcrate in Parramatta, is hailed by the media (read ABC News of 1 May https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05-01/parramatta-powerhouse-construction-ends-as-opening-date-nears/106629094) in a way somewhat similar to the recent Fish Market opening.
We learn that –
–       “Arts Minister John Graham said entry to the museum would be free with some exhibits like Task Eternal requiring paid entry.” Does he means that visitors will freely enter the building to patronise its bars, restaurants and shops but will be charged to view the exhibitions?
–       “Seven expansive zones are part of the museum, including an 18-metre high space over 2,200 square metres, which will feature Task Eternal, the largest exhibition about space exploration in Australia” and that “CEO Lisa Havilah’s team will now start installing five exhibitions for the museum’s opening.”
Less than 6 months before the opening, no exhibition detail or theme is provided, except for “Task eternal”.
Only five exhibitions?
–       This poorly compares with the 25 exhibitions “arranged into five thematic groups, including Science, Technology and People, and Australian design” for the opening of the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo in 1988. Their themes were made public years before the Museum’s grand opening.
–       Seven “expansive zones”, so what is the purpose of the two other “zones”?
Finally we are told that the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo “is expected to reopen to the public in 2027”…which appears impossible!’
READ ALL HERE:  Save the PHM. FINAL REPORT RELEASED ON ARTS

1 May, 2026
Completion of Parramatta Powerhouse Building construction
A number of announcements were made on 1 May, regarding the completion of the construction of the buildings for ‘Powerhouse Parramatta’ museum.
Many locals including investors and audiences supported it, but a wide criticism continued about the inappropriate removal of a key state museum from the state city centre to an area that needed a museum for its own history and heritage.
Apart from pride expressed by the Premier and Arts Minister, criticism was also made by experienced museum professionals who questioned, based on recent experiences, the future purpose and program of the institution as a significant Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences.
These concerns were also noted in the recent report of the government Portfolio Committee 6, (See web entry below, 29 April, 4 May).
For examples of the announcement, see:
1: Powerhouse News, 1 May:
Making a museum that changes with the world Making a museum that changes with the world. Powerhouse Parramatta reached its final major construction milestone, with main building works now complete. More than 4,000 people contributed over 2.7 million hours, most from Western Sydney. Opening late 2026, Powerhouse Parramatta is a museum redefined for this century, created for and with one of Australia’s most diverse and fastest-growing communities. The monumental exoskeleton establishes Powerhouse Parramatta as an architectural landmark. Made from over 1,300 individual pieces of steel, the superstructure creates epic and flexible spaces to hold stories for a new generation. A museum’s role in the community is to be a vitalising force.
READ HERE: for extended information: PHM Media release 1 May 
And HERE: Powerhouse News May 1

2: ABC Net News, 1 May:
‘Construction ends on $915 million Parramatta Powerhouse museum set to open this year’
Declan Bowring wrote for the ABC announcement:
In short: Four years after it started, construction of the Powerhouse Parramatta, hailed as a major cultural institution for Western Sydney, is finished. Powerhouse CEO Lisa Havilah says the museum team will now focus on installing five exhibitions for the opening.
What’s next? Premier Chris Minns has flagged the museum will open in September, though Ms Havilah has not confirmed the date. Construction of the $915 million Powerhouse Parramatta has been completed ahead of the new Western Sydney institution’s opening as soon as September.
The NSW government has announced the major milestone four years after work began, with the site handed over by builder LendLease to the Powerhouse at 5pm yesterday.
Seven expansive zones are part of the museum, including an 18-metre high space over 2,200 square metres, which will feature Task Eternal, the largest exhibition about space exploration in Australia.
Powerhouse CEO Lisa Havilah said her team would now start installing five exhibitions for the museum’s opening.
“This is Western Sydney’s first major cultural institution,” Ms Havilah told 702 ABC Sydney. “This investment is about the diverse, fast-growing and young communities of Western Sydney having direct access to world-class arts and culture.”
Ms Havilah said the museum also includes a public rooftop garden for horticulture demonstrations and a 60-bed accommodation area for 10,000 visiting students a year to complete immersive learning programs.
Five exhibitions will fill the spaces inside the Powerhouse.
She told 702 ABC Sydney a pedestrian-friendly civic link that passes through the museum would connect the river to Parramatta Square as the nearby Sydney Metro project finishes, which is due to be completed in 2032. Ms Havilah would not give an opening date for the museum, except to say it would be before the end of this year.
“When it opens later this year it will truly change our city,” Parramatta NSW MP Donna Davis said.
“The ambition of this museum matches the ambition of the people of Parramatta and I can’t wait to see it.” Premier Chris Minns inadvertently revealed September as a prospective opening date at a press conference in May last year. “It’s not far away, probably September of next year it’ll open its doors, and it’ll be an exciting day for our beautiful city,” Mr Minns said at the time.
The building features an exoskeleton design that means inside exhibition spaces can be free of columns. (ABC News: Digby Werthmuller)
“Well, it may well be that I wasn’t supposed to say that, but that’s what we’re aiming for, and so it’s not too far away. We really want to open as soon as possible.”
Arts Minister John Graham said entry to the museum would be free with some exhibits like Task Eternal requiring paid entry. “That’s a really important policy of the government, we want our cultural institutions to be free,” Mr Graham said.
READ HERE, or HERE: ABC Net News Parramatta 1 May

3. COMMENTS FROM EXPERIENCED MUSEUM ADVOCATES:
A:  Kylie Winkworth, Powerhouse Museum Alliance member, and former Trustee, wrote about the ABC News site, 1 May
‘This project is built on grotesque public deception, starting with the fact that this is not a museum, let alone anything to do with the real Powerhouse Museum. The government appropriated the assets and funding of an historic state museum, built by generations of donors and taxpayers, to turn it into an electoral bribe for Western Sydney. It’s not a museum, it’s a multi-purpose entertainment facility where every space is designed for performance and venue hire. The development has no concept or compelling rationale. It was built on the rubble of the historic villa Willow Grove, built by Annie Gallagher in 1891, and the last riverside garden villa in Parramatta. Community objections, a Green Ban, and options to retain Willow Grove were all ignored.
Powerhouse Parramatta was developed in secret without consultation. It is a smaller, less accessible and less functional facility than the real Powerhouse Museum the government has now demolished. Powerhouse Parramatta was not wanted by the community who had no say in what the project is about or where it is located.  There were 1,644 submissions from the community, which 1,598 were objections, and only 26 supported the project.
No government anywhere in the world has ever demolished a purpose-designed, centrally located state museum to move it to a less accessible location. Let alone spending the best part of $1.5 billion on building a ‘museum’ in a high-risk flood zone, on a site that floods so frequently they had to build a vast undercroft for the conveyance of high velocity flood waters to flow underneath the building. And after all this, they can’t even say the development is safe for visitors or collections. Indeed, the environmental specifications for the building have been so degraded that just one space of 1,232sqm may meet international lending standards, (P5 level 2 west. The design brief specified 5,094sqm of AA climate controlled space). It is more proof the project is not intended to be a museum.’
B: Save the Powerhouse campaign:
Powerhouse closed its Ultimo premises in February 2024 for major renovations and is expected to reopen to the public in 2027.
Save the Powerhouse wrote: ‘Meanwhile the structural completion of the Milkcrate in Parramatta, is hailed by the media (read ABC News of 1 May ) in a way somewhat similar to the recent Fish Market opening.
We learn that –
–       “Arts Minister John Graham said entry to the museum would be free with some exhibits like Task Eternal requiring paid entry.” Does he means that visitors will freely enter the building to patronise its bars, restaurants and shops but will be charged to view the exhibitions
–       “Seven expansive zones are part of the museum, including an 18-metre high space over 2,200 square metres, which will feature Task Eternal, the largest exhibition about space exploration in Australia” and that “CEO Lisa Havilah’s team will now start installing five exhibitions for the museum’s opening.”
Less than 6 months before the opening, no exhibition detail or theme is provided, except for “Task eternal”. Only five exhibitions?
–       This poorly compares with the 25 exhibitions “arranged into five thematic groups, including Science, Technology and People, and Australian design” for the opening of the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo in 1988. Their themes were made public years before the Museum’s grand opening.
–       Seven “expansive zones”, so what is the purpose of the two other “zones”?
Finally we are told that the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo “is expected to reopen to the public in 2027”…which appears impossible!’
READ ALL HERE: Save the PHM. FINAL REPORT RELEASED ON ARTS
C: Parramatta Advertiser, 1 May
Suzette Meade, longtime advocate for maintaining Parramatta’s own history and heritage, provided many comments attached to the Parramatta Advertiser’s report. They include:
Suzette Meade:  $1.4 billion of cultural funding into an entertainment/ restaurant space with $400,000 of flood mitigation reports. Imagine for all of that we could have had funding towards councils upgraded Riverside theatre, restore Roxy, maybe also an art gallery and a Museum of NSW with adaptive reuse of the 26ha National heritage listed female factory (state owned land with light rail beside it.) AND still had a river foreshore park as per the civic walk design with WillowGrove and St George Terraces.
Judith Coombes: I think people are finding it hard to get excited about this because it seems to have no resemblance to the Powerhouse Museum everyone knew and loved. These opening exhibition ideas look really inaccessible and nothing to do with the incredible Powerhouse science, technology, social history and decorative arts collections.
Steve Starr Creatives: Yeah the whole shambles is a black hole for money that has impacted museums & galleries funding across the state’s urban & regional communities for over a decade. Still no business case has been submitted on why it was a good idea in the first place. Powerhouse Ultimo was just fine.
Di Skye: Based on what we’ve heard, we all know it is a faux-museum. It is actually a function space for hire which cosplays as a museum. Parramatta deserves its own truly authentic and dedicated museum celebrating its important history in Australia. Instead, we get this convention centre with apartments that has a small historical side hustle.
Fiona Smith: My heart is with the old DJs building as well as the other historic buildings that were demolished for this. Also, the Powerhouse was fine where it was. Did not need to move to Parramatta. A colossal waste of money. Another blight on the Parramatta landscape to add to the many added in more recent times. It won’t be long before they justify pulling down Old Government House ….
READ ALL HERE: Parramatta Advertiser Comments 1 May

 18 April, 2026
In a wide mailout, Save the Powerhouse Museum campaign, savethepowerhouse@gmail.com reported: ‘The Federal Government’s intention to “divest” the Victoria Barracks military base in Paddington as part of its “2023 Defence Estate Audit” is meeting with growing opposition.
Read City Hub of 10 April https://cityhub.com.au/growing-opposition-meets-victoria-barracks-vision/. “This decision to sell Victoria Barracks simply does not stack up” Labor MLA Marjorie O’Neill told the City Hub, “Victoria Barracks is not surplus land. It is the birthplace of the
[…]  Cr Maxwell’s video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaaHSo-HQZo “reimagines” the barracks as a “multipurpose civic space, and are part of a broader call for a publicly-led master planning of the site” (read real estate redevelopment).
NSW Labor seems to be at odds with heritage conservation. […] Read City Hub of 7 April https://cityhub.com.au/victoria-barracks-public-space/.
This follows –
–       The total destruction of the Powerhouse Museum’s Wran Heritage which the NSW Labor Government added to its State Heritage Register less than 2 years ago (https://gazette.nsw.gov.au/gazette/2024/7/2024-7_268-gazette.pdf – 12 July 2024) for the “historic, social and associative significance of adaptive reuse of the 1899 Ultimo Power House as the Powerhouse Museum in 1988, INCLUDING THE WRAN AND HARWOOD BUILDINGS.”
–       The apparently deliberate undermining of the Parramatta Female Factory complex’s chances of a UNESCO World Heritage listing due to surrounding high-rise development proposals.. In most countries heritage is treated as a source of national pride—carefully preserved for its cultural, architectural and historical value, and recognised as a major driver of tourism..
In NSW heritage is only perceived as an obstacle to real estate “opportunities.”
If, like many others, you oppose the proposed divestment of Victoria Barracks, you can sign one of the petitions currently available online.
Links to 3 of them are available in the City Hub of 28 March 
READ ALL HERE:  Save the P – NSW LABOR DOES NOT LIKE HERITAGE CONSERVATION

 31 March, 1 April, 2026
‘Powerhouse fires up western Sydney philanthropists’
and ‘The reason these Rich Listers are funding a $1.4b museum’
Michael Bailey, Arts and Culture editor for the Financial Review, wrote that:
‘Powerhouse Parramatta has been controversial since its announcement 12 years ago, but not to the new wave of western Sydney philanthropists who, it can be revealed, have so far donated $68 million of its $915 million price tag.“ ’
He continues: “This is about education for the children of western Sydney and beyond, and showing the world that Parramatta is not a second city. It’s a global city in its own right,” said Sarkis Nassif, founder and chief executive of Holdmark Property Group. Holdmark gave $10 million for the naming rights to one of Powerhouse Parramatta’s five galleries, which will present a biennial exhibition around innovation in architecture, engineering and design. Nassif was on Tuesday among a group of Financial Review Rich Listers and entrepreneurs with roots – like his – in western Sydney, inspecting the 32,000-square metre project, which is 95 per cent complete ahead of its public opening later this year. ‘ In an associated photograph, many of the philanthropists are identified as: ‘Skylife CEO Luke Schafer; Neilson Foundation director Beau Neilson; UNSW dean of arts, design & architecture Claire Annesley; Holdmark Property founder and CEO Sarkis Nassif; Walker Family Foundation director Sue Walker; Walker Corporation assistant development manager Hugo Walker; Walker Family Foundation executive director Georgia Vesperman; Western Sydney University vice chancellor George Williams; ING Bank Australia CEO Melanie Evans; and Sir William Tyree Foundation chairwoman Robyn Fennell. Dominic Lorrimer.’
…’ Powerhouse chief executive Lisa Havilah revealed she had now secured more than 90 per cent of a $75 million private fundraising target assigned to her in 2021 by the NSW government, helping defray total costs estimated at $1.4 billion once the contentious knockdown and rebuild of its original home in inner-city Ultimo is included. …“What we’ve got here is a hyper-platform that for the next 100 years can change and reflect one of the most dynamic regions in the country,” Havilah said.
Powerhouse Parramatta, the largest cultural investment by the NSW government since the Sydney Opera House, is frequently blamed for cuts elsewhere, such as October’s loss of 44 jobs loss from the Art Gallery of NSW, and the closure last week of Darlinghurst’s Australian Design Centre after 62 years, following its failed application for recurrent funding.’ …
‘Former Powerhouse [Trustee] Kylie Winkworth – who criticises Powerhouse Parramatta as being more performing arts space and function centre than museum – said the government had been “raiding every hollow log” to pay for the project, whose total cost, including the relaunch of the Ultimo site, she estimates at closer to $2 billion.’…
Bailey continued with more details of donations by the other listed philanthropists:
Read more HERE, or HERE  Powerhouse Parramatta fires up western Sydney philanthropists, who donated $68 million of the $915 million cost .

March 2026
‘Powerhouse Museum: Seeking documentary evidence’
For some time, under the Government Information Public Access (GIPA) Act 2009, experienced and active former volunteer Tom Lockley, has followed up considerable earlier research and requests from government, for ‘Seeking documentary evidence’ about the processes carried out, and decisions made, regarding the significant changes to the Powerhouse Museum.
On March 16, 2026, he followed up by writing to The Hon. Scott Farlow, MLC, in NSW Parliament, ‘seeking his help’, and attaching a GIPA determination that ‘indicates that the Premiers Department does not hold any information on this matter.’ (A response from Farlow is expected soon, and will be added to this web page.)
See this recent 16 March correspondence below, and with earlier requests and responses  HERE:  Tom Lockley seeks Documentation of Powerhouse Museum development

‘Dear Mr Farlow,
I am seeking your help in a matter in which you are uniquely able to assist, namely the processes by which decisions have been made over the past twelve years regarding the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences. I am seeking documentary evidence that the New South Wales government, over the period from mid-2014 to date, has followed appropriate procedures by properly examining alternatives in the development of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences,
The attached GIPA determination indicates that the Premiers Department does not hold any information on this matter. I have also repeatedly asked MAAS, Infrastructure New South Wales and related organisations and relevant government departments if they can help, with no response. It seems impossible that many major decisions have been made without appropriate written records, and this is a matter that is being pursued separately, but it is clear that at least on two occasions there was documentation.
READ HERE: A8499080 – GIPA Decision – PD letter to Mr Lockley – 20260309 (1)
You referred to both of these in the legislative Council debate of Wednesday, 7 August 2019,
1. The initial analysis.
You explained in 2014 the then director of MCA conducted an analysis of the need for a cultural institution in western Sydney and the suitability of the Powerhouse Museum to move, rather than creating a new cultural institution or transferring any other cultural institution. This analysis demonstrated ”the suitability of the Powerhouse Museum to move, rather than creating a new cultural institution or transferring any other cultural institution”.
2. The six independent reviews.
You stated that since February 2016 Infrastructure NSW undertook six independent reviews of the New Museum in Western Sydney Project, conducted by more than 30 independent reviewers, including specialists in design, planning and economics’.
These are the only recorded documents which may indicate that proper investigation was made into alternatives, as required by the appropriate Treasury documents.
Yet they cannot be found.
Can you assist in this search? You are the only person that we can find that has had contact with these documents.
I look forward to receiving information about them. Many thanks,
Tom Lockley
(The only information we have on these independent reviews is a month date and the titles of the reviews, viz:
1. December 2016: MAAS review report
2. February 2017: MAAS New Museum in Parramatta review report
3. January 2018: New Museum in Parramatta report
4. March 2018: New Museum in Western Sydney report
5. April 2018: MAAS Ultimo report
6. November 2018: New Museum in Parramatta report
We cannot find any trace of them in any government records, including the 8.9 gigabytes of documents released under SO52 applications which, we would expect, would include some reference to these vital documents.)’

22 March, 2026
“ONLY LABOR WILL SAVE PHMU” — A MAJOR BROKEN PROMISE
On their Facebook page, and mass mailout, Save the Powerhouse campaign provides a detailed 3-year account of Minister John Graham’s broken promises about ‘saving’ the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo. They provide links to announcements, speeches and budget estimates, and ask: ‘But can we trust him after such a major betrayal? There are growing concerns that the site is instead being revamped as an entertainment and event venue, similar to “Powerhouse Parramatta”.‘
After considerable details and references, they conclude: ‘Even if the Minister “saved the Powerhouse Museum”, it would be four times smaller than the original, hidden behind a row of souvenir shops, and built on the ruins of the state heritage-listed Powerhouse Museum. Nothing really “familiar to the community” which supported their world-class Museum for decades!’
They wrote: “ONLY LABOR WILL SAVE PHMU” — A MAJOR BROKEN PROMISE
Just three years ago on 22 March 2023, John Graham stood on the forecourt of the Powerhouse Museum and solemnly declared: “Only Labor will save the Powerhouse Museum” http://tiny.cc/t1d0101. He reminded his audience that “it was the Wran Labor Government that originally conceived the purpose-built institution on the site of the old Ultimo power station.”
Three days later, on 25 March 2023, NSW Labor was elected, and Graham became Minister for the Arts (among other portfolios) in the Minns Government.
Three years on, the outcome could not be more grim. The recently heritage-listed museum has effectively been destroyed: the Wran-era additions demolished to the ground, and only the brick façades of the original power station left standing.
Was John Graham disingenuous when he promised, 3 days before he became the Arts Minister, that “Labor will save the Powerhouse Museum”? Or is it a matter of “the tail wagging the dog” and the public service, who had planned the demolition since Gladys Berejiklian’s “backflip” in July 2020 (http://tiny.cc/03d0101) , overruling the Minister?
Either way, this effectively constitutes a MAJOR BROKEN PRE-ELECTION PROMISE and a complete betrayal of the trust of those who listened to the Minister’s deceiving speech, many of them eminent museum professionals and/or long term supporters of the “Powerhouse Museum cause.”
The Minister continues to assert that the rebuilt “Powerhouse Ultimo” will be a genuine museum (of applied arts and sciences?), “familiar to the community” (whatever that means).
(Budget Estimates Hearing of 6 March 2026. https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/…/Transcript%20… page 34).
But can we trust him after such a major betrayal? There are growing concerns that the site is instead being revamped as an entertainment and event venue, similar to “Powerhouse Parramatta”, which—despite earlier promises of becoming Australia’s largest STEM museum—is increasingly being promoted as a destination centred on food and beverage with rooftop gardening experiences with all the experienced MAAS curators replaced by “creative artists”.
Even if the Minister “saved the Powerhouse Museum”, it would be four times smaller than the original, hidden behind a row of souvenir shops, and built on the ruins of the state heritage-listed Powerhouse Museum. Nothing really “familiar to the community” which supported their world-class Museum for decades!’
READ HERE for 22 March 2026. and HERE:  Save the Powerhouse 22 March

7 March, 2026
‘24 hour economy venues’
Bearing in mind the recent examples of increasing entertainment spaces in museums and galleries, at the cost of exhibition space, It was reported by a PMA colleague that ‘on ABC 702 radio about 9.15am on 7 March, the presenter was interviewing the “24-hour Commissioner” and the editor of Time-Out about the rise in the number of so-called “multi-purpose venues”.  This was evidently viewed as a good thing.  The disastrous effect of this trend on former museums is obvious.’
Further research was found an ‘AI Overview’, which summarised:
‘NSW 24-Hour Economy Commissioner Michael Rodrigues (formerly of Time Out) has championed the rise of multi-purpose venues, emphasizing that the future of Sydney’s nightlife is about creating diverse spaces where people of all ages feel comfortable to connect, combining arts, culture, sports, and dining.’ And in the Daily Telegraph Sydney: ‘Based on recent discussions and the 2024–2026 developments in NSW:

• Definition of Multi-Purpose: The Commissioner has highlighted a shift toward “multi-purpose” or “hybrid” venues, which are designed to host a variety of activities beyond just drinking, such as live music, stand-up comedy, art installations, and community events.
• The “Vibrancy Reforms”: These venues are being encouraged by the NSW government through “vibrancy reforms,” which allow venues and registered clubs to host live, outdoor entertainment and increase outdoor dining capacity without costly, time-consuming development applications.
• Purpose: These changes aim to move away from purely alcohol-focused nightlife towards safer, more diverse, and engaging spaces.
• Context: While the Commissioner has pushed for this, the rise of these venues has sometimes met resistance from local residents regarding noise concerns, such as with the proposed 24/7 venue at Barangaroo, though the government has pushed for these venues to operate under a more flexible, 24-hour strategy. ‘

3 February, 2026
(in print Feb 4)
‘Going, going … the cultural landmark disappearing before Sydney’s eyes’
In the Sydney Morning Herald, with a number of related photographs, Linda Morris discussed the strong public concerns about the current destruction of so much of the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo, in relation to both its heritage and its future role. She started: ‘After nearly 40 years, the Powerhouse Museum’s Wran Building at Ultimo is being slowly demolished as critics of the project mourn the loss of a cultural landmark the Minns government says needs to make way for a museum rebuilt for a new century. Site clearing has already claimed much of the roof and some of the signature steel ribs that formed the backbone of the 1988 adaptation of the Ultimo Power Station, home of the Museum for Applied Arts and Sciences. The original steel sheeting has been peeled away, exposing the arched structure. This week, many of the 17 steel ribs of the main wing and the 19 of the adjacent Galleria will be moved out. Under the $300 million redevelopment, internal walls, mezzanines, and staircases within the next door heritage-listed Boiler House and Turbine Hall will be removed at a net loss of dedicated exhibition space…’

11 January 2026
‘IS THIS THE END?’
Following the recent Inquiry that included many submissions about saving the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo, and the recent news that work would start on the Museum buildings, Save the Powerhouse Museum advocacy team circulated comments by email and Facebook including:
‘In just one week, most of the Wran Building and Galleria glazing—and large sections of their corrugated roofs—have been stripped away. Within weeks, during the depths of the summer break,, the entire Wran-era heritage that the Arts Minister pledged to save, and that the Heritage Minister formally listed only eighteen months ago, will be destroyed forever.
Rarely has a community been misled so cynically by the very politicians who promised to protect their beloved museum in order to win office. (Read “Only Labor will save the Powerhouse Museum” http://tiny.cc/y7hx001)
$2 billion of taxpayers’ money has been squandered  Read HERE.  
A respected, world-class museum designed to last 100 years has been demolished after less than 40 years of highly successful operation, only to be replaced by three unviable commercial venues that will burden the NSW arts budget for decades to come.
“It is time for a fresh start in arts and culture policy in NSW,” the Arts Minister declared just days before the election. So why did he leave in place the MAAS–Create NSW–Infrastructure NSW team he inherited from the previous government—allowing them to press on with exactly the same destructive project? Yes IT IS TIME FOR A FRESH START and we cannot wait for the next election!’
Save also included some impressive photos of the destruction taking place on these award-winning buildings. READ and SEE HERE: Save the P 11 Jan 2026

 2 January, 2026
‘HOW SYDNEY’s POWERHOUSE MUSEUM WAS LOST’
Save the Powerhouse campaign reminds us on their Facebook page HERE, of Infrastructure NSW’s announcement in December, noting that: ‘In just three days’ time—on Monday 5 January 2026—pedestrian footpaths on Harris and Macarthur Streets around the Powerhouse Museum will close for the (unknown!) duration of the so-called “Revitalisation” project.  “These temporary closures are required to expand the project hoarding” Infrastructure NSW (INSW) advises, “to allow (the demolition contractor) greater access to the Harris Street forecourt and eventually the new building.” The 501 bus stop at Harris and Macarthur Streets has already been removed.’
Save then asks further: ‘To follow is the full demolition of the recently state heritage-listed Wran Building and Galleria—the destruction of the Wran Heritage—and with it the irreversible loss of Sydney’s world-famous Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences.
How did this happen, despite 11 years of sustained opposition from the community and heritage experts alike?
Our joint petition READ HERE to keep the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo open gathered more than 11,000 signatures, yet received no response when forwarded to the Minister for the Arts.
Want the full story? A supporter’s fact-packed video exposes the incompetence, politics, greed and pharaonic public money waste behind this disaster.
Watch https://youtu.be/QRwxKb0cC-Y. ‘

I January, 2026
‘How Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum Was Lost’
Entering the new year of 2026, and following the recent government Inquiry into cultural funding, and 10 years of protests about the ‘destruction’ of the Powerhouse Museum in its city site in Ultimo, a thoughtful researcher has put together a video of the Museum’s history, and the many issues faced along the way. Video producer and Presenter, identified as TDW, is credited at the end, along with support from Save the Powerhouse Museum and the Powerhouse Museum Alliance, and others. Save the Powerhouse has posted TDW’s video HERE.
They provide the following context, of which we are well aware:
‘Sydney’s beloved Powerhouse Museum was an original, inventive institution that told the story of technology, scientific discovery, and the creativity they generated…. This video tells the story of how anti-democratic planning processes and political failures at every level have led to the destruction of one of the world’s most distinctive cultural institutions.’
For more information visit: https://www.facebook.com/savethepowerhouse
 https://powerhousemuseumalliance.com/news-chronology-2025/ (and earlier links)
It is recommended by TDW that we contact our local members of Parliament, and PMA adds that we request followup to recommendations made in submissions to the recent Inquiry.

January 2026
Followup information for Portfolio Committee No, 6 – Transport and the Arts
Structure and funding of the arts, music, night-time economy, and transport portfolios
Following the hearings with this Committee, in December 2025, the transcripts were published on their web, under ‘Hearings and Transcripts’. READ HERE and in our 12 December entry in the 2025 News Chronology.
Then, under the heading ‘Other Documents’, after requests were made from the Committee to some speakers for additional information, over 30 extra documents were submitted and published in January 2026. They include significant extra information submitted from the following members of the Powerhouse Museum Alliance who spoke at the hearing:
READ HERE
21/01/2026:  Additional Information:
Dr Lindsay Sharp, Founding Director, Powerhouse Museum
20/01/2026: Additional Information
Ms Jennifer Sanders, Former Deputy Director, Powerhouse Museum
20/01/2026: Additional Information
Ms Jennifer Sanders addressing paragraphs (a), (c) and (h) of the terms of reference
20/01/2026: Additional Information
Ms Jennifer Sanders enclosing an image of the flooded Parramatta River
20/01/2026: Additional Information
Ms Jennifer Sanders providing a link to a campaign video produced by a long-term supporter of the Powerhouse Museum
20/01/2026: Additional Information
Ms Jennifer Sanders enclosing a letter from Dr Miles Oglethorpe, International Committee on the Conservation of Industrial Heritage, to the former NSW Premier
20/01/2026: Additional Information
Ms Jennifer Sanders & Mr Andrew Grant addressing paragraphs (c) and (h) of the terms of reference and enclosing correspondence between Mr Grant and Mr Bob Debus.
19/01/2026: Additional Information
Dr Lindsay Sharp, Founding Director, Powerhouse Museum
11/12/2025: Additional Information
Ms Jennifer Sanders, Former Deputy Director, Powerhouse Museum