Where Sydney’s mayoral candidates stand on T2 Building

ALL five candidates vying to be elected as mayor at the upcoming City of Sydney elections have expressed support at an LGBTI history museum being established in the city, but not all agreed on where or how.

At a recent Meet the Candidates forum, the five mayoral candidates responded to a range of audience questions on topical issues, from Sydney’s lockout laws to the revitalisation of Oxford Street.

When it came to the T2 building at Taylor Square and a potential museum, the candidates were unanimous in their support, however each had differing ideas on how and where a museum should be established.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said she supports the idea of establishing a museum if it has widespread community support, explaining that it previously hadn’t.

“In the past we’d put out an expression of interest in a museum and there was none,” she said.

“A group promoting the museum came to see me recently and I asked if they had a proposal, and they didn’t… it seemed to be a project plucked for the election.

“I feel uncomfortable that I’m being set up here, but as I’ve said, I support the idea of an LGTBI museum, I just think it should be a community initiative with community support, which simply hasn’t happened.”

Liberal Party’s Christine Forster said she fully supported the establishment of an LGBTI museum, and that it should certainly be housed in the T2 building.

“Of course [I support this], T2 is an iconic building in an iconic location,” she said.

“It’s the perfect place to have an LGBTI museum – I’ve pushed since 2012 for council to commit funding to establish a museum.”

Greens candidate Lindsay Johnston agreed that the museum should be at least initially funded by the council.

“We would like to see management of the museum completely under the control of members of the rainbow community,” he said.

“Initially funded by the council on an ongoing bases, until it can probably stand alone in time.”

Labor candidate Linda Scott highlighted that she was the only councillor that had voted against the sale of the T2 building when it came to council.

“We think it should be a museum, we think it should be primarily funded by council, and we think there should be recurrent funding to make sure it is able to continue and stay open as a museum,” she said.

Finally, Sydney Matters Independent Angela Vithoulkas said she was supportive of the T2 building being a museum from the beginning.

“I didn’t like the excuses I got from council that the community wasn’t interested in picking up the project and running with it,” she said.

“Certainly the city has the resources to be able to assist with the concept and developing it.”

Watch the full video below (The LGBTI museum talk begins at the 1:07 mark):

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