29/05/2026
“I believe that our Minister of the Arts, Paul Goldsmith, is here.” (crowd boo's)
“I've got a message. And, Paul, if you listen up for a little minute, I'd like you to take a message back to Wellington. I did a speed read on the budget this afternoon. There doesn't appear to be any money for music. But in big, big letters in the top of the news, $2.1 billion for defense. What the f***?
OK, What are we going to do if somebody invades Aotearoa? What are we going to do? We've got approximately three tanks, and two of those are set in concrete in Waiouru.
— Lynda Topp, Aotearoa Music Awards
If you want any more evidence that the President of the Aotearoa Menace Society Lynda Topp is not going to let the tragedy of losing her sister slow her down, look no further than her impassioned speech at the Aotearoa Music Awards.
Because of course she's right
It genuinely feels like this country used to have a thriving arts and music scene in a way that we simply do not anymore.
And its not due to a lack of talent (that much was clear from yesterday's artists awards show)
Its that artists in this country are not supported the way previous generations have been.
And that decline is not accidental. It is the result of successive National governments treating arts and culture as disposable luxuries rather than essential parts of a functioning society.
Which brings me to Paul Goldsmith.
If Lynda Topp wants to know why the Minister of the Arts is not advocating for more funding for music and young artists the way an Arts Minister shoudl
it’s because governments like this do not put people like Paul Goldsmith in those positions to fight for the arts. They put them there specifically because they know they won’t get in the way of billion-dollar defence spending.
Paul Goldsmith, in his role as Minister of the Arts, has done absolutely nothing to advocate for the next generation of artists in this country.
If Goldsmith had been around in the 80s, Dave Dobbyn would be an accountant
Neil Finn a lawyer
And Topp Twins quirky art teachers, rather than the icons they are now
We don't get what we had by telling the starving young artists of today to survive on passion alone.
Art does not emerge out of nowhere. It requires investment. It requires belief. It requires a country that sees culture as something worth protecting.
Instead, we have politicians championing defence spending in a country that most people would struggle to even locate on a map.
