Page 915 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 22 March 2017

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Question resolved in the negative.

Ms Fitzharris’s amendment agreed to.

Original question, as amended, resolved in the affirmative.

ACT Heritage Council assessments

MS LAWDER (Brindabella) (4.44): I move:

That this Assembly:

(1) notes that:

(a) the ACT Heritage Council make assessments on heritage listings;

(b) the Heritage Council has a backlog of assessments;

(d) at the end of the 2015-16 year 136 nominations were waiting to be assessed—a decrease of only seven; and

(e) as of the end of February, there were still 131 nominations—a decrease of only five; and

(2) calls on the ACT Government to:

(a) prioritise clearing the backlog of the nomination register;

(b) prioritise the nominations that have been on the register for extended periods of time;

(c) make contact with the nominators for the assessments that have been waiting longer than 12 months and update them with how the application is progressing; and

(d) report back to the Assembly by the end of August with an update.

I am pleased to bring this motion about ACT heritage listing assessment waiting periods to the attention of the Assembly today and I hope the government will support the intent of the motion.

The ACT heritage register lists those places and objects of heritage significance in the ACT. The ACT Heritage Council is an independent council that makes assessments on heritage listings. We were told by the relevant minister, Mr Gentleman, during annual report hearings recently, that there are currently 1.6 staff members who make these assessments and that there were 131 nominations still waiting for an assessment at the end of February 2017. Some of those nominations have been on the waiting list

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