Page 2250 - Week 06 - Thursday, 6 June 2019
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CYF-19/15, dated 15 May 2019.
CYF-19/18, dated 24 May 2019.
CYF-18/36, dated 15 May 2019.
ACT Place Names Committee and guidelines review
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella—Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Minister for Planning and Land Management, Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Minister assisting the Chief Minister on Advanced Technology and Space Industries) (3.46): Pursuant to standing order 211, I move:
That the Assembly take note of the following paper:
ACT Place Names Committee and Guidelines Review, dated June 2019.
I am disappointed to see, when we are considering such a serious matter, that only a few Canberra Liberals are in the chamber. I wish to acknowledge those in the gallery whose lives will be made better because of these changes in place names. I am pleased to table the ACT Place Names Committee and guidelines review that has been undertaken by the ACT government in response to the motion moved by Ms Cody on 28 November 2018 and passed by the Assembly. I would like to thank Ms Cody for bringing these matters to the attention of the Assembly and for her advocacy on behalf of the community.
As I spoke about in the debate on Ms Cody’s motion, place naming was a responsibility of the Australian government prior to self-government coming to the territory. Since self-government the naming of public places has been undertaken by the responsible minister or delegate under the Public Place Names Act 1989, with support and advice from the non-statutory ACT Place Names Committee since 1999. The resolution passed by the Assembly was the result of community and media interest in existing place names in the territory, and the potential for public places to be named after persons who have since suffered a fall from grace.
The resolution called on the government to review the ACT Place Names Committee, the public place names guidelines and associated processes. The review also called on the ACT Place Names Committee to review the naming of two public places—Haig Park and William Slim Drive.
The review has been undertaken by the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate, with input received from the Place Names Committee and other relevant stakeholders. The review assessed the Place Names Committee membership and terms of reference, the place names guidelines and the ability to consider community proposals against ACT government benchmarks and best practice examples. The review also undertook a jurisdictional analysis to compare place naming and community input processes in the territory with other jurisdictions. A significant component of the review focused on the existing complaints process for members of the community to raise concerns over place names that they feel do not meet community standards.
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