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Question and Answer Tracking Details

7691 - Transport and Roads - M12 ABORIGINAL ART STRATEGY

Latham, Mark to the Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning representing the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, and Minister for Transport and Roads

(1) In the planning for the M12 Motorway in Western Sydney:

(a) Why is Transport for NSW (TfNSW) intending to spend $7 million on a ‘large sculptural element based on the Aboriginal story of The Great Emu In The Sky’, supposedly with the advantage of passengers flying into and out of the new Western Sydney Airport being able to see the Great Emu from the air?

(b) What is the latest TfNSW costing for The Great Emu In The Sky?

(c) Has the Minister viewed the proposed sculpture?

(i) Can the Minister tell from the TfNSW drawings that it’s actually an Emu?

(d) Which Western Sydney Indigenous tribe has told the story of The Great Emu In The Sky on which the sculpture is based?

(i) When did the story first become known to TfNSW?

(ii) How has it been popularised in Western Sydney to be deserving of a $7 million sculpture?

(2) What is the estimated cost of the other elements of the ‘M12 Aboriginal Art Strategy’ developed by Deanne Forrest, involving:

(a) The Eucalypt Leaf Canopy to ‘explore the lifecycle of a leaf’?

(b) ‘Place motifs on overbridges’?

(c) ’Six Seasons across the year’?

(d) The Seed Collection Program?
Answer -

I am advised:

The design elements to be incorporated into the M12 Motorway in Western Sydney are currently subject to a tendering process.

Question asked on 25 October 2021 (session 57-1) and published in Questions & Answers Paper No. 611
Answer received on 15 November 2021 and published in Questions & Answers Paper No. 626

The Parliament of New South Wales acknowledges and respects the traditional lands of all Aboriginal people, and pays respects to all Elders past and present. We acknowledge the Gadigal people as the traditional custodians of the land on which the Parliament of New South Wales stands.