The Friends of TMAG have launched a petition to parliament calling on the state government to reverse cuts to scientific, exhibition and design staff at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.
The group has supported the Hobart institution for around 44 years, buying items the museum cannot afford and helping draw visitors through the doors.
Jane Wilcox, the group’s immediate past president, said TMAG has been at the cultural, scientific and educational heart of Tasmania since 1848.
“TMAG scientists provide critical advice that supports the operation of legislation underpinning Tasmania’s biodiversity, biosecurity, nature conservation and agricultural industries,” she said.
“Their work is not optional.”
Wilcox said members were “absolutely appalled at the way the government has ignored the value of the work that TMAG does”.
She said there was nothing left to cut because the museum was already running on a skeleton staff.
Former senior curator of cultural heritage at TMAG Ian Terry led the petition for the group.
He said TMAG had operated on a shoestring that had been getting shorter every year.
“And now with these cuts, I think we can get rid of the shoestring and the place is gonna be held together by some yellowing old sticky tape,” he said.
Terry said losing the seven staff would be the biggest hit in a very long time.
He said the Treasurer and minister had been “poorly advised” by bureaucrats in Building Tasmania, who decided which positions would go.
“They’re the ones who’ve made the decision over which positions should leave without really much consultation with the museum at all,” he said.
He argued against charging entry, saying the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery found the cost of collecting fees outweighed the revenue and that visitor numbers, including school groups, would fall.
Acting Greens leader Vica Bayley is sponsoring the petition and said he had been inundated with messages since the news broke.
He described the cuts as “a slap in the face to so many people who love TMAG”.
The Greens say the cuts include axing the role of Head of the Tasmanian Herbarium, which is part of TMAG.
Government minister Bridget Archer said the government was working through the issues “in a measured and indeed a sensitive way”.
“We’ve also been clear about protecting the essential services that Tasmanians rely on.”
She said the public service needed to be the right size while essential services were protected.
The petition, which also calls for greater investment in TMAG’s infrastructure, is open until late November, when it will be tabled in parliament.
