Jaenine Parkinson is the chief executive of Museums Aotearoa. This article is in response to a news story published last week, Cash-strapped councils sitting on a $1.1 billion art goldmine.

OPINION: Ratepayers will have read the Taxpayers' Union's latest tired and flawed claim about the value of public art collections with a mixture of scepticism and disdain.

At a time when local government is grappling with genuinely difficult questions about affordability, infrastructure investment and how councils can continue to provide the services communities expect, the Taxpayers' Union has once again reached for a headline-grabbing soundbite rather than a serious solution.

For an organisation that prides itself on fiscal discipline and economic literacy, suggesting councils can solve their financial woes by selling art collections is surprisingly short-sighted.

Public collections are not a rainy-day fund to be raided whenever budgets become tight. They have been built over decades through the generosity of donors, philanthropic bequests and prudent public investment. Councils are custodians of these assets, holding them in trust for current and future generations. Their responsibility is stewardship, not liquidation.

More fundamentally, the Taxpayers' Union seems reluctant to acknowledge its own role in creating the conditions it now criticises. For years it has championed lower rates, tighter spending constraints and limits on council investment. The predictable result is underinvestment in the infrastructure, facilities and services communities rely on.

Roads, water networks, public transport, parks, libraries, museums, galleries and heritage assets all require sustained, long-term funding. When rates are artificially constrained, the costs do not disappear; they are simply pushed onto future generations.

Now, when those costs have come due, the answer being offered is to sell off public assets built up over decades.

The argument also rests on a basic misconception: that valuation equals cash. It does not. A painting valued at $1 million is not $1m sitting in a bank account. It is only worth that amount if a willing buyer can be found, they are prepared to pay that price, and there are no legal, ethical, or donor restrictions preventing a sale. Public collections are largely illiquid assets, often carrying obligations arising from donations, bequests, cultural agreements and public trust responsibilities.

Even where sales are possible, art collections are not simply financial assets. Many works are taonga, valued for their cultural, historical, educational and community significance. They preserve collective memory, tell local stories, inspire creativity, support learning and contribute to community wellbeing. Their value extends far beyond what might be realised at auction. That is what gets lost when the conversation focuses solely on dollar figures.

Nor would asset sales solve councils' financial problems. They would provide a temporary fiscal sugar hit while leaving untouched the structural pressures driving rising costs. Once the proceeds were spent, councils would still face the same infrastructure deficits, growth pressures, insurance costs and service demands, only with fewer public assets and diminished cultural wealth.

Many artworks entered public collections through the generosity of donors and benefactors specifically so they would remain accessible. Once sold into private hands, that access may be lost forever, leaving important art, culture and heritage increasingly the preserve of only those wealthy enough to acquire it. Some of New Zealand's most significant works would likely find their way into private or offshore collections, permanently removing them from public ownership.

The real issue is not why councils own valuable collections. It is why councils have been left so financially constrained that selling those collections is being presented as a serious solution at all.

The answer to council’s financial problems is not to loot the assets previous generations worked to build. It is to confront the long-term funding model, and the low-rates, low-investment expectations championed by groups such as the Taxpayers' Union, that have left local government increasingly unable to invest in the future. Councils should be acting as guardians of the public inheritance, not auctioning it off to cover the consequences of decades of underinvestment.

The Post: August 2, 2026.