| Complaint stalls museum ceremony |
| By Anthony Radford
Department of Immigration cancels citizenship event
THE Department of Immigration has cancelled a planned citizenship ceremony at Bendigo’s Golden Dragon Museum because of an investigation into alleged under payment of employees.
Last week the Bendigo Weekly revealed the Workplace Ombudsman was investigating a complaint against the museum, and had given the popular tourist icon 14 days to state its case.
The Immigration Department had asked the museum to host a formal citizenship ceremony for 70 guests, including Parliamentary Secretary Laurie Ferguson, on April 9.
Despite knowing about the investigation for about a week, the department cancelled the event last Friday, only hours after the complaint became public.
A department spokesperson confirmed the event was cancelled because of the investigation. “The department is currently investigating the museum’s compliance with the visa and sponsorship requirements and the department advised the museum that in the light of the ongoing investigation, it was no longer appropriate for it to host a formal reception at the museum.”
Current City of Greater Bendigo citizen of the year Russell Jack runs the museum.
Russell Jack said the citizenship ceremony would have been a good leverage tool for any future funding application.
“This is a real kick in the guts,” he said.
“They didn’t give us a reason.”
The state government and City of Greater Bendigo council didn’t let the controversy get in the way of announcing more funding for the museum last week.
Member for Bendigo East Jacinta Allan announced a $50,000 grant last Friday for the museum to begin a $100,000 planning study to look at ways it can extend.
“The Golden Dragon Museum was built in 1990 to mark the significant contribution made to the development of Bendigo by the city’s Chinese community, and to preserve and display the community’s marvellous collection of Chinese dragons,” she said.
“Over time, the museum has built up a rare collection of important artefacts and dragons.
“The Brumby government recognises that the multi-award winning museum has outgrown its current space and is in urgent need of expansion.
“This initiative will enable the museum to produce conceptual material for a future extension while developing approximate costings for any such extension project.”
The council will contribute $30,000 to the study, and the Bendigo Chinese Association $20,000.
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