Otago Museum managers are not holding their breath despite public assurances from Te Papa chief executive Dr Seddon Bennington that he wants to improve relationships with the Otago institution.
During the Nine to Noon show on National Radio yesterday, host Kathryn Ryan highlighted problems between Te Papa and the Otago Museum which have previously been raised by the Otago Daily Times.
‘‘We're committed to improving things,'' Dr Bennington said.
Earlier, Otago Museum chief executive Shimrath Paul, another guest on the show, highlighted difficulties in dealing with Te Papa.
The difficulties included internal communication problems within Te Papa, a lack of co-operation over efforts to regain national funding for the now-scrapped Otago Museum liaison officer post, and unsuccessful negotiations involving Te Papa's efforts to assert ownership and control of the Otago Museum's Oldman collection holdings.
Mr Paul said it was ‘‘always good to hear Te Papa speaking of a commitment to build the relationship''.
‘‘But we're not holding our breath,'' he added in an interview.
He strongly supported having a national museum but it should be ‘‘one that empowers and assists other museums, particularly ones that hold nationally significant collections''.
