Rudd blasted after Blanchett picked for art talkfest

Feb 26, 2008, 13:55 GMT

Australian actress Cate Blanchett EPA/TRACEY NEARMY

Sydney - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was blasted Tuesday after he named glamorous Hollywood actor Cate Blanchett the only woman in a 10-member panel that in April will lead a high-octane Canberra summit charged with mapping out Australia's art future.

Blanchett, who this week missed out on converting her two Oscar nominations into actual awards, gets to help pick the rest of the 1,000 'best and brightest' summiteers.

She will steer the Parliament House debate on the future of the arts and write a report for Rudd.

'Individuals such as Cate Blanchett along with the other nine members of this national steering committees for the summit, are competent, creative individuals in their own right,' Rudd said.

Leading businesswoman Katherine Harris said it was regrettable that Australian women were to be represented by a jet-setting actor, fashion model and promoter of skin cream who had no obvious recommendations for the role other than her celebrity.

'It's not just that we're not getting different points of view but it's also that we're not getting role models,' she said.

Blanchett, 38, who is expecting to give birth to her third child the month of the summit, last year raised the ire of the arts community by landing the coveted post of director of the Sydney Theatre Company without the job being advertised or ever having directed a professional theatrical production.

Rudd's choice of Blanchett was not unexpected. She campaigned for his Labor Party at last November's general election.