Saturday March 30, 2024
SUCK UP TO HIM!
News

SUCK UP TO HIM!

July 2 2015

If you want a slurp of cash from the George Brandis Slush Fund for Really Important Art and Artists it would be a good idea to get on the right side of this bloke (above). According to Daily Review  (June 26) these days Michael Napthali is the Arts Minister’s “policy adviser” in all things arts related.

So who is this pleasant looking chap? On 27 August 2005 he was a guest on Geraldine Doogue’s Saturday Extra  show on ABC RN. She introduced him as “an intellectual property and entertainment lawyer and a former executive at Sony Music”. He’s moved onwards and upwards since then, of course.

Of greater significance – and ominous in view of what’s recently happened to the Australia Council ($104+ million hijacked by Brandis for distribution to favourites from his own silk-lined purse) is what happened on 10 November 2010 at the glittering launch of the Australian World Orchestra

As reported – tongue in cheek by Andrew Taylor in the Sydney Morning Herald, “Modesty was in short supply at the launch of the AWO 2015 season at the Sydney Opera House.”

The AWO chairman Neil Thompson sobbed to the throng that the Australia Council had offered the band “a small amount of support” for a regional chamber tour. “That’s been the extent of funding from them so far,” he whinged. “Government until now has been very difficult. We have received support, we would always like more.”

But a beaming Brandis – on hand for the launch of course – had already cheered him up a bit. He had cocked a snook at the OzCo and handed over $600,000 to the AWO, reminding the snivelling Thompson that it was “one of the happiest things I was able to do in my early days days as Arts Minister.”

Brandis then described the AWO as “an emblem and exemplar” of the significance of Australia’s cultural sector. (The season’s star conductors were well known and exceedingly well paid Aussie Aussie Aussie conductors Sir Simon Rattle and Zubin Mehta.)

Altogether the AWO has to date pocketed $1.15 million from the Brandis Arts Ministry. In return although coincidentally George got Michael Napthali – in 2010 at the launch as a board member of the AWO but now no longer associated with the outfit (the photo above was on its website). 

According to Crikey  and Daily Review, “Industry sources have told Crikey  that Napthali has been closely involved in discussions between Brandis and the major performing arts organisations [AMPAG] in which those organisations were urged not to protest against the Australia Council cuts.”

So, cut and paste the above photo to your desktop, memorise the face and next time you see him taking tea with a member of AMPAG, rush up and start brown-nosing. You never know your luck in the new Brandis world of the National Programme (sic) for Excellence in the Arts.

 

Subscribe

Get all the content of the week delivered straight to your inbox!

Register to Comment
Reset your Password
Registration Login
Registration