Goldsmith told RNZ he had no interest in “getting into a fight” with Dame Lynda, but rejected suggestions the coalition did not value the arts community.<\/p>\n
“She’s obviously had a difficult week, and we wish her all the best,” he said.<\/p>\n
Dame Lynda Topp, still grieving at the loss of her twin sister, took the stage to fire some broadsides.\u00a0 (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
“In essence, it was a standard music awards [ceremony], where someone always attacks the government, and that’s how it always is.”<\/p>\n
Goldsmith, who was attending the event with one of his daughters, said he had become used to being attacked at such occasions.<\/p>\n
“It is supposed to be the creative industry, but it’s the same old clich\u00e9 every time attacking a centre-right government,” he said.<\/p>\n
“You would think there’d be some variety.”<\/p>\n
The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including Dame Lynda Topp slams the budget, new MAFS allegations, and the All White who\u2019s going viral. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
Goldsmith acknowledged Thursday’s Budget had been a “tough” one, but he said it still contained “modest support” for musicians and the wider arts sector.<\/p>\n
“Actually, if you listen to Marlon Williams’ 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 – all government agencies that support musicians and continue to do so.<\/p>\n
“New Zealanders very much value the arts, and this government does as well.”<\/p>\n
Like most agencies, the Ministry for Culture, Arts and Heritage had its baseline funding cut by 2 percent, 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 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 $185 million over four years to continue providing subsidies to the domestic film industry.<\/p>\n
“It’s a funny thing at these awards,” Goldsmith said. “I get to listen, but I don’t get to give a speech – presumably because they think that would start a riot.”<\/p>\n
What did the music industry think of the budget?<\/p>\n
![\"Dame](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dame-lynda-topp-at-the-aotearoa-music-awards-BN26MKSD75FF7BEWGIEQ2QKXT4.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Dame Lynda Topp at the Aotearoa Music Awards. (Source: rnz.co.nz)<\/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: “Anybody who thinks being defenceless in the world in which we live in today should probably go and talk to somebody in Ukraine.”<\/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
“I appreciate that not everyone looks at the defence budget and says that that’s about me, but look around the world, it is more unstable than ever.<\/p>\n
“We need to be able to protect and advance New Zealand’s interests.”<\/p>\n
Dame Lynda, who lost her twin Dame Jools earlier this week, received a standing ovation after accusing the government of overlooking the arts in this year’s Budget.<\/p>\n
Justine Smith told Breakfast the beloved entertainer would forever be an icon of New Zealand comedy. (Source: Breakfast)<\/p>\n
“We 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
“I see young artists struggling, not because they’ve got a gig on Friday night – because they are trying to put through some sort of crazy mother****ing arts submission to get a few lousy dollars from the government.”<\/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
“What are we going to do if somebody invades Aotearoa? We’ve got approximately three tanks, and two of those are set in concrete in Waiouru,” she said.<\/p>\n
Goldsmith said the speech had not ruined his evening.<\/p>\n
“Most of the night was about celebrating the best of New Zealand music for the year… there’s just so much great music, and some of it was performed.<\/p>\n
“For most of it, it was a very positive night.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arts Minister Paul Goldsmith has brushed off criticism of the government at the Aotearoa Music Awards as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[44640,156,157,111,139,69,135],"class_list":["post-453178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-budget-2026","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453178","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=453178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}