I actually think some of our greatest architecture and infrastructure work was put into some of the nation’s woolsheds, but I don’t think those properties are at any risk of becoming embroiled in an advertising saga any time soon.
This debate might seem so far removed from our everyday lives, but it actually hits directly at governance, management and the fact that pressure on anything, can come from anywhere.
It is this very element that drives the need to gain and maintain our licence to farm and do anything else that other people can see regarding what they consume.
Like much of what we do – there does not seem to be a black and white, or right and wrong, answer here.
But the fact that a decision has been stripped from the management of an organisation (regardless of whether it is public or private) by a range of outside pressures and interests is deplorable - in my opinion.
In this age where the trust of so many people and organisations in our political, corporate and societal spheres has been degraded, we have yet another victim of no confidence through a situation in which 90 per cent of the people singing and dancing about it take no interest in the building for the other 51 weeks of the year.
Ring a bell for farming?
Improvement comes from being challenged, but would we like it if someone dictated to us what fertiliser we could use and when?
What sort of mesh we could use on a new fence? No, we wouldn’t, because we make those decisions in the best interest of our land, animals and businesses.
The same scenario is now playing our for trust and executive team at the Opera House. Imagine how the Opera House team must feel at the moment.
I would guess they all have immense pride in, and a love of, what the Opera House stands for and what it means to all Australians. They have had all that ripped right our of their hands.
From time to time there are people who need removing from organisations, businesses and parties – but fair go – the number of babies we are seeing being thrown out with the bath water these days is becoming tiresome.
We have to keep maintaining the confidence of our public in what we are doing and most of us do it really well, because can we afford the time, and do we want the heartache we’ve just seen the Opera House team go through? I don’t think anyone would.
This whole issue is not about whether what is advertised or not, it’s about letting people do what they have been put there to do.
