Family First National Director Lyle Shelton says ACON and the Museum of Contemporary Art must explain why a taxpayer-linked queer ideology art installation has been placed directly outside Timezone, the children's arcade and party venue at Westfield Parramatta, putting adult sexual and gender fluid ideas squarely in the path of kids on their way to play games or celebrate a birthday.
The ABC and international arts media have reported that the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA) and ACON have installed a video, sculpture and "shrine" exhibition titled Bonnie Huang: Dare to Dream on Level 4 of Westfield Parramatta — directly opposite Timezone, the arcade and family entertainment venue where children go for birthday parties, school holiday outings and after-school visits.
The installation is described by organisers as celebrating "culturally and linguistically diverse LGBTQ+" identity and creating "a symbolic oasis" inside the shopping centre, drawing on more than 70 community participants from across Western Sydney.
"This exhibition isn't tucked away in a corner — it's placed directly outside Timezone, the arcade families use for birthday parties and school holiday outings," said Mr Shelton. "Every child walking in to play games or celebrate a birthday walks straight past a taxpayer-linked ideological shrine. ACON receives millions of dollars a year through NSW Health, and the public deserves a straight answer: was a single taxpayer dollar spent putting adult identity politics in the path of kids heading into an arcade?"
Neither ACON nor the Museum of Contemporary Art has disclosed what portion, if any, of the exhibition's cost was met from the public funding both organisations receive, or why the installation was positioned where it was. Mr Shelton says the silence is telling.
"It's entirely Westfield's right to decide which causes it promotes in its own centre — nobody is disputing that," said Mr Shelton. "But it says something when a shopping centre finds prime space right outside a children's entertainment venue for a rainbow ideology installation, while Christmas trees and Santa's grotto have long shouldered out any acknowledgement that Christmas is actually about the birth of Christ, and chocolate bunnies have done the same to Easter."
"Is rainbow ideology really what parents want their kids walking past on the way into Timezone? I don't think most mums and dads at Parramatta would say yes."
"Where is Health Minister Ryan Park on this?" said Mr Shelton. "His department funds ACON to deliver health services, not to place ideological art shrines metres from where children queue for arcade games and birthday parties. Parents in Western Sydney have every right to ask whether money meant for health support is instead being spent on projects that put ideology in front of kids, and Mr Park owes them an answer."
Family First is calling on ACON, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the NSW Government to:
- Publicly disclose whether any taxpayer funding provided to ACON or the Museum of Contemporary Art was used to fund the Bonnie Huang: Dare to Dream exhibition, and if so, how much;
- Explain why an adult ideological art installation was placed directly outside Timezone, a children's arcade and party venue, rather than in a neutral part of the centre;
- Commit that future ACON- or MCA-backed exhibitions in family shopping centres will not be positioned where children congregate; and
- Respect that families with young children visiting shopping centres are not a captive audience for ideological messaging of any kind.
