Page 917 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 22 March 2017
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priority for assessment since 2014. That is three years on the priority list and 14 years overall on the list. In this same letter, the chair stated that for a fee of $10,000 the Oaks Estate nomination could be transferred to the urgent list.
You would have to start to question how seriously the government takes heritage issues in the ACT. While we appear to be a relatively youthful territory compared to some other areas in Australia, and certainly internationally, there is a rich and varied history here in Canberra that is worth preserving in some parts for our future generations. It relates to the way we have interacted and become the national capital. It relates to our earlier rural settlements as well as our Indigenous community.
In April—next month, Madam Deputy Speaker—the ACT will celebrate Heritage Week and the ACT Heritage Festival. Heritage Week, as I understand it, has been held in the ACT since 1981. It provides us all with an opportunity to further understand where we have come from and to define our identity based on our past. Heritage gives the community a sense of continuity and connection with the story of progress through time. It enables our journey to continue into the future.
As we head into Heritage Week next month, it is vital that the government acknowledge the important place that heritage plays here in Canberra and that places are given the respect that they deserve. There will be some nominations on the heritage list that will not gain heritage listing on the nomination list, but there may well be some that deserve recognition and placement on the heritage list.
We have an opportunity for the government to prove to the ACT community that it takes the issue of heritage protection seriously. That is why I have brought this motion to the Assembly today, asking the ACT government to prioritise clearing the backlog of the nomination register, to prioritise the nominations that have been on the register for extended periods of time, to make contact with nominators for the assessments that have been waiting for longer than 12 months and update them on how their nomination is progressing, and to report back to the Assembly by the end of August with an update.
Dealing with the backlog of nominations in a timely and efficient manner will go a long way to making sure that confidence in that ACT heritage program is maintained. It may be that circumstances have changed since some of those nominations were first made. They may no longer be valid. The people involved with them may have changed their minds. In some cases, the building itself may have been demolished while people were waiting for an assessment to be made. We need to see the list dealt with in a timely and efficient manner. Having something waiting on the list for 15 or 16 years just does not make good sense. If they are no longer valid nominations, they should be dealt with accordingly; just leaving them on the list does not make sense.
I am asking the government to do its part, to work with the Heritage Council, which the minister spoke about during annual report hearings, and to prioritise clearing the backlog of nominations so that the work of the Heritage Council can proceed as nominations are received. I commend the motion to the Assembly.
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