City takeover deferred
The State Government will run the Albany Entertainment Centre for another year, deferring the City of Albany’s takeover of the venue.
The City was originally expected to take over the centre in July 2012 but was granted an additional two-year reprieve, extending the takeover date to July this year.
Announced last Friday by Culture and the Arts Minister John Day, the Government will now manage the centre for an extra year until June 30, 2015.
The Perth Theatre Trust has also ended its arrangement with AEG Odgen, which is currently hired to manage the centre, and will run it in-house from January next year.
City of Albany Mayor Dennis Wellington said the local government was still negotiating the long-term management of the centre with the Government.
“I’m very pleased with the decision, it will give more time to negotiate a takeover at some stage,” he said.
Albany MP Peter Watson said it was “great” the Government continued to run the centre as it had expertise in venue management.
“The City has enough on its plate at the moment with the Anzac commemorations, it shouldn’t have to take over the entertainment centre as well,” he said.
However Mr Watson questioned the decision regarding the trust taking the day-to-day management in-house.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, Ogden have done an excellent job,” he said.
He said long term the Government should run the Albany Entertainment Centre.
The Government has also adopted a new model for outsourcing food and beverage services at State-run theatres, however View Restaurant will remain as is and will not be outsourced.
Perth Theatre Trust acting general manager Rudi Gracias said it planned to retain current AEG Ogden-employed staff at the centre.
The trust will take over the management of all its venues across the State, after an external review.
