{"id":10156,"date":"2026-10-13T11:58:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T11:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/10156\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T11:58:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T11:58:18","slug":"kylie-kwong-powerhouse-role-celebrity-chef-lands-controversial-440000-ambassador-deal-amid-museum-spending-probe-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/10156\/","title":{"rendered":"Kylie Kwong Powerhouse role: Celebrity chef lands controversial $440,000 ambassador deal amid museum spending probe"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Clair<\/p>\n

October 13, 2026 \u2014 10:30am<\/p>\n

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Celebrity chef Kylie Kwong has been handed a controversial new ambassador role worth almost half a million dollars by the Powerhouse Museum, just a month after it confirmed her tenure was over.<\/p>\n

The appointment has sparked anger within the arts sector as the beleaguered museum is under scrutiny for overspending and grappling with an executive procurement investigation that has been referred to the Independent Commission Against Corruption.<\/p>\n

A contentious $2.6 million \u201cAssociates\u201d program that included Kwong and eight other creative identities hired by the Powerhouse was terminated on June 30. \u201cFollowing the conclusion of the program, Associates will not be given continuing roles,\u201d then-chief executive Lisa Havilah told the Herald on June 4.<\/p>\n

\"ChefChef Kylie Kwong and Lisa Havilah when they worked together at Carriageworks, posted in 2019.Facebook<\/p>\n

However, a NSW government contract notice published on October 3 reveals that one month after the program\u2019s end date, Kwong was awarded the new role of Powerhouse\u2019s culinary industry leader\/ambassador in a two-year deal worth $440,000 of public money.<\/p>\n

This role, which is believed to be part-time, does not involve catering or the operation of food venues.<\/p>\n

\"KylieKylie Kwong in a photo with friends and colleagues including Lisa Havilah (front centre) posted to mark the final service of her restaurant Billy Kwong in 2019.Facebook<\/p>\n

Havilah stood aside from her chief executive position on August 27, pending a departmental investigation into \u201cgovernance and procurement practices\u201d. The shock move came just 72 days before the billion-dollar Parramatta museum was due to open.<\/p>\n

But Kwong\u2019s ambassador contract was effective from August 1. The pair have a long-running creative partnership, with Havilah \u2013 in her previous role as director of Carriageworks \u2013 inviting Kwong to curate the Redfern venue\u2019s Night Market from 2017 to 2019. Kwong has described Havilah on social media as her \u201cgreat mentor\u201d. The Herald is not suggesting either person acted improperly.<\/p>\n

The Powerhouse refused to be drawn on who at the museum approved the ambassador contract, with a spokesperson saying: \u201cThe contract was awarded through an open request for quote process advertised on Buy NSW, in line with the NSW Procurement Policy Framework, and was approved under the Powerhouse\u2019s financial delegations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Invitations have gone out for Powerhouse Parramatta\u2019s November 6 previews before its long-awaited public opening the following day.<\/p>\n

Kwong\u2019s lucrative appointment comes at a sensitive time, following revelations of a $70 million spending spree by the museum in the lead-up to its opening and an admission from Treasury Secretary Michael Coutts-Trotter that he was concerned by its overspend and work was under way to help find ways \u201cfor the institution to live within its budget\u201d.<\/p>\n

The contract was greeted with dismay by the Public Service Association (PSA) of NSW, which represents workers at the Powerhouse and other cultural institutions. A salary of $220,000 is categorised as executive level in the NSW public service.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been raising concerns with the minister [Arts Minister John Graham] for years about expenditure of the Powerhouse Parramatta site and engagement of consultants \u2013 both their necessity and their cost,\u201d PSA assistant secretary Troy Wright said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe release of this new contract will only confirm our members\u2019 concerns that the new museum is transforming into an entertainment precinct and not a museum at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wright said the museum\u2019s operating model was \u201ccompletely incongruous\u201d with the Minns government\u2019s efforts to cut public expenditure on consultants.<\/p>\n

The Associates program \u2013 which included artist Agatha Gothe-Snape, photographer Zan Wimberley and former cookbook publisher Julie Gibbs \u2013 cost $2.6 million over five years. The museum has refused to reveal how much each associate received.<\/p>\n

Former Powerhouse trustee Leo Schofield is concerned with the emphasis on food, pointing out it is the museum of applied arts and sciences. \u201cI think it\u2019s entirely inappropriate that the Powerhouse has concerned itself to this extent with food,\u201d he said. \u201cBy no stretch of the imagination can culinary pursuits be seen as part of the collection of significant objects in arts or science.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"(Left(Left to right) Julie Gibbs, Kate Gibbs, Guy Grossi, Lisa Havilah, Neil Perry, Louise Keats, Suzanne Gibbs, Peter Gilmore and Kylie Kwong, gathered to celebrate the Powerhouse\u2019s announcement of the Australian Culinary Archive in 2020.Louie Douvis<\/p>\n

Gibbs, who in a previous role signed wellness influencer Belle Gibson to write a cookbook that was pulled when she was subsequently exposed as a cancer fraud, is also continuing to work at the Powerhouse, with her culinary archive adviser contract expiring in July next year.<\/p>\n

In a statement to the Herald, the Powerhouse said the Associates program was specifically tasked with developing programs for the Parramatta museum and confirmed this was \u201cnow complete\u201d.<\/p>\n

Kwong\u2019s contract would focus on \u201cindustry engagement, participation in public programming and advocacy\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe public will benefit from Ms Kwong\u2019s extensive experience and professional industry standing as she contributes to the design and delivery of public programs, including workshops, masterclasses, industry forums and food experiences for Powerhouse Parramatta,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Sydney restaurateur Simon Sandall will lead operations of the museum\u2019s cafe, restaurant and bar. Procurement records show another consultancy contract worth more than $200,000 was issued to an advisory group to \u201csupport the successful operational readiness\u201d of commercial food and beverage offerings.<\/p>\n

Kwong and Havilah did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

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Close\"ClairClair Weaver is a senior writer at The Sydney Morning Herald.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

October 13, 2026 \u2014 10:30am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. No gift articles left You’ve used all of your gift articles. 3 more will become available on the 1st of every month. Close AAA Celebrity chef Kylie Kwong has been handed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10113,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10],"class_list":["post-10156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrity-chefs","tag-celebrity-chef","tag-celebrity-chefs"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dnc\/117433486771293566","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}