With a collection valued at $232 million, the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery receives $1.3 million in recurrent assistance from the state government and has to find more than $4 million in operating costs.

The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, with a collection valued at $340 million, this year receives $8.6 million from the state for operating costs.

As usual the regions have to fight for every cent they get, traditionally from a Southern-dominated government. In the Hodgman regime, the make-up is more evenly distributed, but there are still five Southern ministers, a Southern speaker and four Northern and North-Western ministers.

While there might be grounds for cautious optimism, recent history of dividing up the cake has been chequered. In the 2013-14 state budget, new and ongoing capital expenditure for the North and North- West amounted to 23 per cent of the total, despite the regions shouldering 49 per cent of the state's population.

Most of the redevelopment at Inveresk was federal money. The state government has spent about $2.9 million on QVMAG at Royal Park. TMAG is enjoying a $200 million multi-stage redevelopment, with $30 million already spent on stage one. Work has already started on a $75 million arts precinct near the site of Hobart's Theatre Royal.

The state provided a small grant of $3000 for Festivale this year, while in Hobart it recently spent more than $15 million redeveloping Princess Wharf, where the Taste of Tasmania is held.

Against this background the Launceston City Council ought to pursue its claim vigorously for more QVMAG funding.

Capital cities are by definition showcases of a country or state, but this will not alway determine the real value of an investment in Australia's most demographically decentralised state. Both the Northern and Southern museums are historically significant and worthy of commensurate assistance from the other two tiers of government.