Page 786 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 13 April 1994
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Heritage Protection
MS ELLIS: Madam Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning. I ask: Is the Minister aware of recent statements that redevelopment is threatening Canberra's heritage and that the existing heritage system is inadequate for its protection?
MR WOOD: Madam Speaker, as always, planning and heritage matters get quite a deal of local currency, and I am pleased that they do. Like the ACT community, I recognise the importance of our heritage and the necessity for strong planning laws and heritage laws to protect that heritage. I think the article was somewhat wrong. The ACT Heritage Council established under the now not so new Land (Planning and Environment) Act is working very strongly to establish its interim heritage register. It has a very large workload and is working assiduously. Once listed on the register, all those sites will have the full protection of law. While they are working, the planners and the Heritage Council are in close communication to ensure that the intent of the Heritage Council is carried through into the planning system.
There was a claim that we should establish special heritage legislation. We have it. Many of the members in this Assembly sat through that very long debate when we wrote that special section into the planning legislation; indeed, some of you were involved in some formulation of that legislation. So we have it there. We do not propose to establish anything further in the sense of a heritage unit. We have a heritage unit. I do not know why there is a claim, for example, that we need some more specific work force. We have it there. They do have an enormous task. They have been working very hard to get it up and running. It is not just a case of saying that a house there or a building somewhere else has to go on the heritage register. It has to be documented. The reasons have to be absolutely precisely stated and the processes also have to be determined on how that is to be looked after. So it is a very difficult program. They are getting through it and, in the meantime, the buildings of Canberra that are of importance are being well protected.
Building Approvals
MR MOORE: Madam Speaker, my question is also to Mr Wood as Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning. Mr Wood, I wonder whether the ACT Building Control section is understaffed at present. If so, what are you going to do about it? If not, could the Minister explain why so many people are having to wait up to three months for approvals?
MR WOOD: Madam Speaker, in response to Mr Moore, I would be interested if he came to me with people who have to wait up to three months. The Building Control section, as Mr Moore knows, recently came over from the Department of Urban Services into DELP. The intention is to make it a one-stop shop so that applicants get their building approval along with the design and siting approval, to make it more efficient, and we are working down that track.
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