A letter writer last Saturday took the usual cheap shots about public art, as if it just an elite waste of time and money ("Your say: Main street poles removal probably inevitable from the start", DA Letters, March 16).
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He lampooned the wooden poles artwork on Baylis Street - the Forest Seat installation by sculptor Simon Lloyd. He added that Gough Whitlam has spent $1.3 million on Jackson Pollock's "Blue Poles" painting in 1973.
Just to correct that a little - it was the NGA director James Mollison who decided to purchase "Blue Poles", and the then Prime Minister had to sign off on amounts over $1 million spent by the National Gallery of Australia. Which Whitlam did.
That painting "Blue Poles" is now valued at over $500 million, so the investment in it can scarcely be seen as a folly. It remains a major drawcard for visitors to the NGA and a huge asset to our nation.
Public art in Wagga is poorly funded here, and yet it adds immeasurably to tourism, to visitor experience of Wagga, and to the character, breadth and cultural diversity of this city.
To deride our public art in Wagga is just dumb and keeps on seeing "art" as if it is only a waste of money better spent on roads and sporting centres.
It is not in competition with those - we need sport, roads, and infrastructure of all kinds - but public art enhances the identity of Wagga, and deserves our respect - we should want a current and future Wagga to have music, art, writing, theatre and public sculpture - not seen only as a cost, but as an investment in the type of community we would want to live in.
Neill Overton, Wagga
COME AND TAKE A LOOK
Councillors Rod Kendall and Richard Foley stated that regional cities (like Wagga) should not be copping and accepting second-class infrastructure ("Council rejects flood-prone Gobba Bridge duplication":, February 27).
Councillor Kendall stated it was important that council does not advocate for second-class infrastructure, we must continue to push forward for what we deserve. Well, come out to San Isidore and I will show you some second-class infrastructure.
It appears that the council is trying to turn this village into a third-world village. Come out and I will show you the problems you have created.
Tom Hughes, San Isidore (7km from CBD, not 7000)
LET ME GOOGLE THAT FOR YOU
What a big day last Saturday was for the DA's Letters page ("Your say: Main street poles removal probably inevitable from the start", DA Letters, March 16).
The duo of doom staged a double act. At least Norman Alexander had a crack at humour.
The fact that Mary Kidson and Ray Peck express a well-founded concern about what sort of world their kids and grandkids, in fact all future generations, will inherit, seems to be a source of constant consternation for Robert T Walker.
Less than two minutes on Google would have answered every one of his questions.
Since the early 1970s recycled concrete has been a major input into highway construction. For over 50 years mankind, across the length and breadth of the globe, has been pulverising and recycling waste concrete and no one let Mr Walker in on the secret.
Ninety-eight per cent of the components that go into wind turbines and up to 95 per cent of solar panel inputs are recyclable.
Major economies across the globe have embraced solar and wind generation on a scale unimaginable in Australia. In 2022 China spent $546 billion on renewables, Europe $180 billion and the USA $141 billion.
Is Mr Walker seriously suggesting those mind-boggling figures have been invested without a second thought as to what happens down the track?
Nuclear waste, a toxic threat to human health for thousands of years, can't even be safely stored let alone recycled. So why isn't Robert T Walker throwing a few questions Peter Dutton's way?
Terry Flanagan, Wagga
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