Page 385 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 18 February 2020
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Owners, occupiers and custodians are expected to be aware of their duty to care for and maintain heritage places and objects under their control and to avoid causing damage to them.
Limiting the right to equality before the law by introducing a repair damage direction scheme, including an offence of failing to comply with a direction, provides an additional incentive for people to protect heritage places and objects—whether they have the financial means or not—and to repair any damage they may cause to a place or object. The proposed repair damage direction scheme provides an additional protection for the ACT’s irreplaceable places and objects of heritage significance.
The proposed repair damage directions will act as an additional compliance tool for the Heritage Council. Existing compliance tools to protect heritage in the ACT include heritage directions made under section 62 of the act and the option of prosecuting a person for the offence of diminishing the heritage significance of a place or object, section 74, or damaging an Aboriginal place or object, section 75. Repair damage directions may only be issued if the damage can be repaired, and are designed as a softer compliance tool than prosecution.
The bill has inserted safeguards to minimise the limitation that repair damage directions place on the right to equality before the law, including permitting the recipient of a repair damage direction to apply to the Heritage Council for an extension of time to comply with the direction, requiring the Heritage Council to consider the reasons why the applicant wants an extension of time, and providing that the decisions by the Heritage Council to issue a repair damage direction or to refuse to give an extension of time to comply with a direction are reviewable.
The bill engages the right to privacy and reputation in two ways. New section 67D provides that if a person subject to a repair damage direction fails to comply with the direction within the time stated in the direction, or an extended time, an authorised person may, with necessary assistance, enter the premises and repair the damage. This may include entering a person’s home if it is heritage registered. Clause 5 of the bill requires that the repair damage direction be included in the public heritage register, which may affect a person’s right to privacy and reputation by publishing the fact that they have had a repair damage direction issued to them.
The limit that the bill places on the right to privacy and reputation is considered reasonable and justified in a free and democratic society, taking into account the factors enumerated in section 28(2) of the Human Rights Act. The purpose of limiting the right to privacy and reputation through the bill is to provide better protection of heritage places and objects and Aboriginal places and objects.
Allowing an authorised person, with necessary assistance, to enter premises belonging to another person in order to undertake repairs on damaged places and objects ensures the protection of the places’ or objects’ heritage significance for future generations. The requirement to notify a repair damage direction on the heritage register ensures that the complete history of a place’s or object’s heritage registration is captured.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video