Process of selecting new monument for National Heroes Square “well-advanced,” says Minister

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office with Responsibility for Culture, Senator Dr Shantal Munro-Knight has disclosed that the process of selecting a new monument to replace that of Lord Nelson in National Heroes Square, The City, is “now well-advanced”.

The Minister’s statement comes on the heels of the publication of a “fake document” on social media purporting to originate in the Ministry, claiming that the Prime Minister had instructed that a monument of a member of her family should be erected.

Below is her statement on the issue.

“It is fake news, completely untrue. There are no such directions, there is no such meeting planned for Thursday, [which is] Cabinet, so, it is completely untrue.

“Let me state for the record if people would recall that the Division of Culture actually launched in May as part of the Season of Emancipation, a design competition for a monument commemorating family. A press release had been issued, it was in the press, it was on social media, it was a public competition for submissions for a design for a monument commemorating the family.

“Last year we started the process of consultations asking people to submit what they think should replace the statue of Lord Nelson in Heroes Square and out of that it came out that we would go to look at a monument for family. And so, we have followed a very transparent process of being able to do that. The final designs are in my office. The committee is headed by Steve Devonish. It is a multi-stakeholder committee, not only with Government; including people from the artistic community that are making the decisions in relation to the design.

“All I am waiting for is the committee to submit to me a report on the process because as Minister, I wanted it to be transparent, I was not involved in the selection or anything – Cabinet nobody has been involved. It is this committee that has been receiving the submissions directly and would have reviewed them. I am waiting for them to give me a report of the process and then we would announce to the public hopefully within this week, the top three designs . . .”