If Herald art critic John McDonald was “amazed” at my piece on Monday revealing the forces at work behind the campaign to “save” the National Art School, his readers at the SMH would be astounded at the apparent conflict-of-interest he carries into the debate.

The two takeover proposals by Macquarie University and UNSW have been
released to National Art School staff on a strictly confidential basis.
That is, no-one from those three institutions is allowed to publicly canvass the proposals or discuss their contents.

John McDonald is on the NAS staff. But it appears that just as he
didn’t quite understand how to act as an employee of the National
Gallery in Canberra, he still can’t grasp how to act as an employee of
a state government institution desperate to flog off its assets.

In the great tradition of arts legrolling, he takes sides without informing the public just who’s paying his wages. While the Herald
has not seen fit to publish online his pieces arguing in favour of a
Macquarie takeover, we have published an interesting analysis of the
rum goings on within the historic walls of Sydney’s old Darlinghurst
Gaol. Check it out onsite here.