Powerhouse joins our troubled history of building public institutions

August 31, 2026 — 4:50pm

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NSW Arts Minister John Graham certainly hit the nail on the head when he told a parliamentary budget estimates committee on Monday that the Powerhouse Museum in Parramatta was “the Opera House of the west”.

He was speaking of his hope the new museum would open on schedule in November but inadvertently reminded MPs with a sense of history of the problems, financial blowouts, political controversies and key staff departures that bedevilled the Sydney Opera House from the day Bennelong Point was suggested in 1954 until Queen Elizabeth II opened the landmark in 1973.

The Powerhouse Museum has suffered some of the same malaise.

Chief executive Lisa Havilah stood aside suddenly on the virtual eve of the November 7 opening, with NSW government architect Abbie........

© The Sydney Morning Herald