Art Gallery of NSW defends use of taxpayer dollars for extravagant wining and dining
Art Gallery of NSW director Michael Brand has come under fire for billing taxpayers for his extravagant social life during COVID.
Brand is accused of using taxpayer dollars at swanky restaurants while the gallery’s visitor numbers plummeted.
Brand ate at Sydney’s finest restaurants, spending $1180 at Otto in Woolloomooloo, $1033 at Firedoor in Surry Hills and $779 at Franca Brasserie in Potts Point.
The Daily Telegraph obtained Brand’s Citibank credit card statements under freedom of information laws and found that Brand, a public servant on a salary of about $450,000 per year, also spent hundreds of dollars at the bottle shop over a two-year period.
Further expenses include $1043 in January 2021 at the now defunct Italian restaurant Lucio’s at Paddington, $708 at Raku Dining in Canberra in March this year and $532 at an Indian restaurant in Surry Hills called Foreign Return just two days later.
Taxi trips were also billed to the taxpayer, while the gallery annual report shows that visitor numbers fell from 1,587,386 to 666,572 due to COVID restrictions.
A spokesperson for the gallery defended the bills calling hospitality a key part of the gallery;s strategy to create partnerships and philanthropy.
“This engagement has made possible the Art Gallery raising $109 million dollars through its philanthropic capital campaign for its major expansion, the Sydney Modern Project, opening in December,” she said.
“Credit card expenses incurred by the director are authorised by delegated officers and the president of the Board of Trustees. These expenses are within approved limits and directly align with the role and responsibilities.”
Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance marketing co-ordinator Ebony Graveur said the numbers were disappointing.
“While plenty of people are aware that taxpayer money is whittled away to iconic bureaucratic inefficiency and poor allocation of funding, few taxpayers seem to realise just how much is wasted by public servants living high on the hog,” Graveur said.
“Of the 26 million people in Australia, I personally would be willing to bet that not a single one would consider Mr Brand’s bourgeois dinners to be an effective use of taxpayer money.”
Irit Jackson, 7th June 2022
