New documents reveal a former federal Labor MP and board member discussed the views of a writer whose workshop was later cancelled.
Board members and senior staff of State Library Victoria discussed the political views of writers at length, consulted donors and the state government, and flagged concerns around the religious background of writers before deciding to cancel a series of workshops, according to documents obtained byit was “postponing” its writing boot camp aimed at teenagers, though it has since failed to announce new dates and the writers involved have declared their unwillingness to take part.
“Many thanks for sending through the full text. It’s an instructive and revealing read,” McKew says. “The first thing to say is that I note this was written in the immediate aftermath of the Oct 7 attack. Which leads to the obvious question – do we have a clear read on everything Omar Sakr has posted since then? If not, we should know and soon.”
The documents reveal that Duldig read articles written by Sakr that had been identified as controversial. Duldig wrote in February: “It is a reasoned argument, though controversial. On these grounds, no reason not to proceed with the presenter.”Library management then decided to raise the issue with other board members and seek advice from state government funding body Creative Victoria. Staff were also delegated to consult library donors about the issue.
The State Library has regularly denied any decisions about the writing workshops were based on the political beliefs or identity of anyone involved with the program.
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