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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 11 Hansard (5 November) . . Page.. 3640 ..

MS McRAE: Mr Speaker, I am a little reluctant to ask this question, because I think it is going to sound a bit like a dorothy dixer. But I think the answer is so important that I am going to proceed. It is to the Minister for Land and Planning. Minister, would you like to explain to us what happened with regard to the property in Arthur Circle, Forrest, when it was damaged, even though it was known to be about to be heritage listed?

MR HUMPHRIES: Did you ask what happened after it was damaged or leading up to its being damaged?

Ms McRae: The point of my question was why the property was damaged, even though people knew that it was going to be heritage listed.

MR HUMPHRIES: Thank you for the supplementary question.

Ms McRae: Mr Speaker, I have plenty of other questions, if the Minister chooses not to answer this one.

MR HUMPHRIES: I was joking.

Ms McRae: Just do not push it.

MR HUMPHRIES: I will not push your buttons today, Ms McRae, I assure you. I am well aware that it is not a wise idea.

Mr Speaker, the sequence of events with respect to the Arthur Circle house is as follows, as best I can recall them: An application has been made by a developer, who acted on behalf of the owners of at least some of those properties, to develop a number of housing blocks adjacent to that block on the corner of Arthur Circle and Ducane Street, I think it is. I think there were five or six contiguous blocks, and the ownership of those blocks came into the same hands.

The proposal was to develop a number of housing units on those blocks by consolidating the site into a single housing site. However, an obstacle to that development was the existence of a building on the corner of those two streets, which, in the eyes of some at least, has some heritage significance. It is one of the few remaining buildings - possibly the only remaining building - in Canberra constructed by the Federal Capital Commission in what is called the arts and crafts style. The building was proposed for heritage listing. The building had reached the stage where some work had been prepared by a local architect for it to be placed into the pipeline for registration on the interim Heritage Register. However, as I understand it, at the point where the incident occurred, the building's listing had not reached that first official stage of registration or even consideration by the Heritage Council.

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