{"id":450495,"date":"2026-05-29T04:07:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T04:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/450495\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T04:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T04:07:09","slug":"same-old-cliche-paul-goldsmith-brushes-off-dame-lynda-topps-criticism-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/450495\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Same old cliche\u2019: Paul Goldsmith brushes off Dame Lynda Topp\u2019s criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Goldsmith, who was attending the event with one of his daughters, said he had become used to being attacked at such occasions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is supposed to be the creative industry, but it\u2019s the same old cliche every time attacking a centre-right government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou would think there\u2019d be some variety.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goldsmith acknowledged Thursday\u2019s Budget had been a \u201ctough\u201d one, but he said it still contained \u201cmodest support\u201d for musicians and the wider arts sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cActually, if you listen to Marlon Williams\u2019 speech, who won the [Best Solo Artist prize], he did point out the support he had had from Creative New Zealand, from New Zealand on Air, from the Film Commission, and from Whakaata M\u0101ori \u2013 all government agencies that support musicians and continue to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Zealanders very much value the arts, and this government does as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like most agencies, the Ministry for Culture, Arts and Heritage had its baseline funding cut by 2%, delivering savings of $27 million over four years.<\/p>\n

That means NZ on Air, the Film Commission, the Music Commission and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra would all be required to find savings over the next four years.<\/p>\n

The Budget<\/a> also contained a one-off $5.6m fund for musical instruments in primary schools, alongside about $50,000 a year to keep the Rockquest music competition running.<\/p>\n

It also contained $185m over four years to continue providing subsidies to the domestic film industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a funny thing at these awards,\u201d Goldsmith said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI get to listen, but I don\u2019t get to give a speech \u2013 presumably because they think that would start a riot.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her speech, Dame Lynda compared arts funding with increased defence spending, which included a $2.3 billion capital injection and a $1.2b boost in operational funding.<\/p>\n

Goldsmith rejected the comparison: \u201cAnybody who thinks being defenceless in the world in which we live in today should probably go and talk to somebody in Ukraine\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking in Wellington, Finance Minister Nicola Willis told reporters the arts were very important, but she said so too was defence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate that not everyone looks at the defence budget and says that that\u2019s about me, but look around the world, it is more unstable than ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to be able to protect and advance New Zealand\u2019s interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DameDame Lynda received a standing ovation after accusing the Government of overlooking the arts in this year\u2019s Budget. Photo \/ Emma Beavis<\/p>\n

Dame Lynda, who lost her twin Dame Jools<\/a> earlier this week, received a standing ovation after accusing the Government of overlooking the arts in this year\u2019s Budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need support for artists in this country, we need a Government that say the arts is more important than a defence budget. Way more!<\/p>\n

\u201cI see young artists struggling, not because they\u2019ve got a gig on Friday night \u2013 because they are trying to put through some sort of crazy mother****ing arts submission to get a few lousy dollars from the Government.\u201d<\/p>\n

To loud cheering and applause, Dame Lynda directly called out Goldsmith in the audience, joking that passionate musicians could make better use of defence funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are we going to do if somebody invades Aotearoa? We\u2019ve got approximately three tanks, and two of those are set in concrete in Waiouru,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Goldsmith said the speech had not ruined his evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the night was about celebrating the best of New Zealand music for the year … there\u2019s just so much great music, and some of it was performed.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor most of it, it was a very positive night.\u201d<\/p>\n

– RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Goldsmith, who was attending the event with one of his daughters, said he had become used to being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[229310,430,229309,6650,3054,2947,156,40623,170562,26478,111,139,69,6662,9716,17357,4514,226681],"class_list":["post-450495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-brushes","tag-celebrities","tag-cliche","tag-craig","tag-criticism","tag-dame","tag-entertainment","tag-goldsmith","tag-lynda","tag-mcculloch","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-off","tag-old","tag-paul","tag-same","tag-topps"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}