A National Gallery that houses Blue Poles but had been forced to put buckets out to catch raindrops was embarrassing for Australia, the Prime Minister has said.
Anthony Albanese told the ACT Labor conference on Saturday the federal government was committed to fixing the gallery.
Mr Albanese criticised the former Coalition government, suggesting its treatment of the public sector, public health and public transport demonstrated they did not like the public.
"They boasted about so-called efficiency while the National Gallery of Australia that has one artwork, thanks to Gough Whitlam, that is worth more than $500 million, and they had to, at the same time as that, put buckets on the floor every time it rains because they had holes in the roof," he said.
"What is the point of having Blue Poles worth over $500 million if you've got holes in the roof of the gallery where it is housed?
"It is embarrassing for a country like Australia to have that as our National Gallery."
Blue Poles, a centrepiece of the Australia's national art collection, was purchased for $1.3 million in 1973. The National Gallery reportedly valued it at $508 million earlier this year.
The federal budget in May earmarked $535 million over four years for works at nine national cultural institutions, which include the National Gallery and the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House.
The National Gallery needed to spend around $87 million on upgrades to its 40-year-old building over the next five years, a report in June 2022 said.
At the time, only $20 million had been committed for the works by the Commonwealth.
