Page 381 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 18 February 2020
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Land Management and Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (10.39), in reply: I thank members for their comments today in support of this bill and I table a revised explanatory statement on the Heritage Amendment Bill 2019. I am pleased to debate the Heritage Amendment Bill 2019 today. I wish to summarise, for the benefit of members, the provisions of the bill.
The government is taking action to improve people’s understanding of the value of heritage places. As part of this, a more flexible and responsive system of heritage directions and compliance notifications is being introduced. The Canberra community are passionate about our shared heritage and have been calling for more effective ways to deal with breaches of the Heritage Act. We have answered the community’s call with a responsive system of heritage directions and compliance notifications.
An information campaign on the proposed amendments commenced in August 2019 to inform key heritage stakeholders, the community and traditional custodian groups that new heritage compliance laws were coming. The purpose of this bill is to make a range of amendments to strengthen the way damage to heritage places and objects can be dealt with, both to deter people from doing damage in the first place and to make them responsible for repairing any damage to heritage places or objects.
This important bill seeks to improve heritage compliance tools, resulting from the investigations of the unauthorised removal of two Aboriginal scar trees in recent years. First, I would like to state that I recognise the importance of Aboriginal scar trees to our region’s heritage and I share the significant disappointment in the loss of these two important trees. The loss of these trees has been felt strongly by all of us here today, but even more so by our local Aboriginal community. The removal of these trees represents a significant loss of the important connection to culture and their past.
These recent heritage compliance matters have highlighted that the current deterrence system in place for heritage offences is not as effective as it could be. A key recommendation resulting from the investigation of one of the removed trees was that consideration be given to expanding a range of heritage enforcement tools currently available. As a matter of urgency, I asked the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate to explore the introduction of an on-the-spot fine scheme and repair orders, and this bill seeks to do just that.
The bill will give the Heritage Council the power to issue repair damage directions to people who repair damage to heritage places and objects, if they can be repaired. The new repair damage directions will apply to an owner, an occupier, a custodian of an object or a person whose work affects that place or object. The bill establishes an offence, including substantial penalties, to contravene a repair damage direction. The maximum penalty of 500 penalty units is proposed for this offence, equating to a monetary value of $80,000 for an individual and $405,000 for a corporation.
If the territory has to carry out the requirements of a heritage direction, costs can be recovered from the person the direction was given to. The giving of a repair damage direction and a refusal by the Heritage Council to give an extension of time to comply with a repair damage direction will become reviewable decisions in the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal. The bill will also establish that, in line with current
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