Announced yesterday, the decision reaffirms its commitment in the 2011-12 ACT Budget and brings an end to a rancorous dispute between members of Canberra’s visual arts and music communities.

But opposition spokesperson on the arts, Vicki Dunne, has claimed that the decision is a setback for the community that will destroy the heritage values of the building.

The workshop, immediately adjacent to the old Kingston Powerhouse, now the Canberra Glassworks, (both built by the architect of old Parliament house, John Smith Murdoch) was seen by former Chief Minister Jon Stanhope as a suitable extension of an arts precinct on the Kingston foreshore and $3.8 million was assigned under his government to give Megalo, one of Canberra’s long-standing arts organisations, a permanent home while observing heritage requirements.

The dispute over this decision emerged when, following Mr Stanhope’s decision, it was discovered during Canberra International Music Festival recitals, that, if fitted with seats, the workshop had sufficiently fine acoustics to make it a first-class recital hall.

Emotions were ramped up when Liberals’ Vicki Dunne and the Greens’ Caroline Le Couteur entered the fray, forcing the government to establish the Legislative Assembly’s Standing Committee Education, Training and Youth Affairs report into the future use of the Fitters’ Workshop, which called for submissions from the public.

ACT Minister for the Arts Joy Burch yesterday tabled the Government’s response to that report, and lashed out at “the damage already done to Megalo Print Studio’s reputation by the Opposition and Greens”.

Describing the committee’s arguments to support its conclusions as “less than persuasive”, and providing “no basis for the Government to abandon its longstanding commitment to use the vacant Fitters’ Workshop to accommodate Megalo, and lay a key plank in the establishment of a visual arts precinct in Kingston”.

Ms Burch went on, “It was suggested the Fitters’ Workshop might suit a broader range of music styles than had previously been performed there – but the acoustic testing commissioned by the Committee confirmed that the building is only suitable for a very limited range of music, such as Gregorian chants and Enya.”

“We also heard claims the Government decision-making process had been flawed, yet we saw nothing in the Committee’s report to support this,” she said.

During the hearings, the debate ranged from heritage issues to the question of retaining the workshop as a multi-use venue, impossible with the heavy equipment and the expensive architectural interventions necessary to transform it into a working professional print facility.

It was also argued that costly interventions would be required to turn it into a concert hall with heating and, seating and toilets and that multi-purpose arts facilities been widely discredited and often fall into disuse.

In a statement yesterday, Ms Dunne said: “ACT Labor’s decision to ignore the community and destroy the heritage and acoustic values of the Fitters’ Workshop is wrong.”

Adding that Labor had “ignored the community and the Assembly’s wishes” and that a multi-purpose facility would have had significant community advantages.

Alison Alder, Megalo’s artistic director, told “CityNews”: “I am pleased, I hope it’s finally resolved.”

Ms Burch said: “People have had their say. Their views have been considered. It is now time to let us get on with the job and deliver forCanberra’s arts community.”