Page 919 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 22 March 2017
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(2) calls on the ACT Government to:
(a) continue providing administrative support to the independent Heritage Council to assist in the timely decision making of nominations;
(b) request that the Heritage Council, where appropriate, prioritise nominations that have been waiting for assessment for an extended period of time;
(c) make contact with the nominators for the assessments that have been on the list longer than 12 months and update them on how the application is progressing; and
(d) report back to the Assembly by the end of August with an update.”.
All the amendment does really is reflect the governance, if you like, of the Heritage Council under government. Ms Lawder’s motion calls on the government to prioritise the clearing of the backlog of the nominations register when actually it is the Heritage Council that has the backlog. But, of course, we want to support them in doing that work.
In relation to the amendment, paragraph (a) refers to continuing to provide administrative support to the independent Heritage Council to assist in the timely decision-making of nominations. As I have previously committed in my recent amendments to the Heritage Act, addressing the list of nominations through the heritage register will continue to be afforded the highest priority to ensure that decisions are made to give certainty to the heritage status of nominated places and objects. Of course, that is what Ms Lawder just spoke to.
The Heritage Council has substantially reduced the list of nominations. Since reaching a peak of 320 in 2008, the list of nominations is currently 131. The government will continue to support and work closely with the independent Heritage Council, which is responsible for assessing nominations and making registration decisions on mechanisms for quickly reducing the list of nominations. Whilst the government is committed to reducing the nomination list, ultimately the decision on whether or not to register a place or object on the heritage register rests with the Heritage Council as the independent decision-making body.
The government demonstrates this commitment by having a range of Heritage Council functions delegated to the secretary—the manager of ACT Heritage—such as notifying registration decisions, provision of conservation advice and consultation with representative Aboriginal organisations to help facilitate registration process. This enables the Heritage Council to give more focus and resources to assessing nominations and making registration decisions.
However, I would like to take this opportunity to make the following comments about the complexity of dealing with lists of nominations awaiting assessments. The nomination list is not necessarily a reflection of the number of staff resources assigned to undertake heritage significant assessments. Matters are much more complex than
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