War of words erupts over lord mayor’s stance on Dark Mofo

LORD Mayor Ron Christie accepted free tickets to Dark Mofo events worth nearly $1400 over three years, Deputy Lord Mayor Peter Sexton says.

The Hobart City Council gift register reveals that when he was Deputy Lord Mayor Ald Christie accepted the hospitality including $170 tickets to the festival opening in 2015, $49 worth of drink vouchers in 2016 and season passes worth $400 to the Winter Feast in 2017.

Also, Ald Christie, who has attacked Dark Mofo saying that its council funding should be cut, voted in April for the council to provide $32,000 in support to this year’s event.

“Given that Ald Christie has voted as recently as April 2018 to fund Dark Mofo as well as accepting tickets to attend Dark Mofo events it is quite remarkable that he is now advocating a cessation of funding because it has no flow-on tourism benefits,” Ald Sexton said

The Hobart City Council voting record shows Ald Christie was one of 10 aldermen to vote for in-kind provision of the Doone Kennedy Aquatic Centre for Dark Mofo this year.

Ald Sexton said it was amazing that in the lead-up to an election that Ald Christie was now advocating that Hobart City Council cease funding Dark Mofo.

Ald Christie has supported Australian Christian Lobby complaints about inverted crosses erected around the waterfront at this year’s event.

It is the latest deterioration in the relationship between the Lord Mayor and his deputy after they exchanged barbs in September over respective ratepayer-funded trips to China and London.

Ald Christie said that all aldermen received tickets to the Winter Feast as part of the council’s sponsorship.

“Whether we use them is

our choice and I didn’t go to any events this year and I don’t think I went last year,” he said.

He said he had been a supporter of Dark Mofo when it started in 2013 but the event had got darker every year.

“I didn’t go this year because of the Last Supper with Jesus Christ which I thought was totally inappropriate,” he said.

He denied that his opposition was related to the election campaign.

“I received 648 complaints this year and that is why I chose to speak out,’ he said.

Ald Christie said he would not support Dark Mofo when its funding was reconsidered.

“I think Mr (David) Walsh and his event can stand alone,” he said.

Ald Sexton said Hobart ratepayers and residents could be forgiven for being perplexed about Ald Christie’s current stance.

“He supported Hobart City council funding of Dark Mofo from 2015 to 2018 and then additional funding in April this year and was also the beneficiary of a number of free tickets to Dark Mofo events,” he said.

Ald Sexton said Ald Christie had caused confusion about the council’s ongoing support for Dark Mofo.

‘The funding agreement with Dark Mofo will be reviewed later in 2018 by the new council and that is the appropriate time to raise any issues of concern and decide whether to continue to support Dark Mofo funding,” he said.

Ald Sexton’s criticism comes in the wake of similar statements from Aldermen Marti Zucco and Jeff Briscoe.

Ald Zucco, a candidate for mayor, said: “Mona is bringing millions of dollars to the state and creating hundreds of jobs with its hugely successful Dark Mofo, yet the ... Lord Mayor is continuing to question its value to the state and indeed Hobart City Council’s contribution to the festival.

“This is something the new council has to consider and, in my opinion, it is not appropriate to be discussing this during what is essentially, a caretaker period while the ballot for local government elections takes place.

“Hobart is now regarded nationally and internationally as a creative hub and much of the credit for this must go to Mona.”