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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 12 Hansard (6 December) . . Page.. 3790 ..

MR CORBELL (continuing):

(a) represents a masterpiece of human creative genius;

(b) exhibits an important interchange of human values, over a span of time, on developments in town planning and landscape design;

(c) is an outstanding example of a type of architectural ensemble and landscape which illustrates (a) a significant stage in human history and (b) it meets the test of authenticity in design and setting; and

(3) resolves that the central area of Canberra should be considered for World Heritage Listing in accordance with the World Heritage Convention.

Sometimes when I talk on this subject I feel like a bit of a voice in the wilderness; nevertheless, this motion is an important one and the issue that it raises is equally important for anyone who considers Canberra to be a superb example of town planning in the 20th century.

World Heritage listing for Canberra was first raised in the early 1990s by the then member for Fraser, Mr John Langmore, and by Professor Ken Taylor, who is still a professor of landscape architecture at the University of Canberra. The thoughts of many people when they hear of the notion of World Heritage listing turn to natural heritage and places of great natural beauty, such as Uluru, Kakadu National Park and, more recently, the Blue Mountains outside of Sydney. But there is much more to World Heritage listing than natural heritage.

Indeed, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, which is the body charged with administering the World Heritage Convention, a convention to which Australia is a signatory, also looks at sites of outstanding universal cultural heritage in making judgments about sites to be placed on the World Heritage List. A number of cities and parts of cities round the world are listed on the World Heritage List.

Perhaps the most striking example in Canberra's case is another planned city. The city of Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, was listed in 1987 on the World Heritage List as of outstanding universal value in relation to developments in town planning and landscape design. When I heard that Canberra was not on the World Heritage List but Brasilia was, it struck me as both odd and perhaps inappropriate considering the significance that Canberra is already accorded internationally as an outstanding example of town planning.

What would World Heritage listing mean and how would it take place? Individual governments like our own are not signatories to the World Heritage Convention; only national governments are. So it would require a nomination by the federal government for this issue to be progressed. However, there is nothing to stop this Assembly from agreeing that Canberra meets the criteria outlined in the World Heritage Convention to justify its nomination to the World Heritage List. The purpose of the motion today is to start that debate.

Mr Speaker, what are the values that make Canberra unique? What are the values that make Canberra a suitable candidate for World Heritage listing? I would like to read from some comments made by Professor Ken Taylor in a speech he gave to a recent meeting of World Heritage experts in Canberra. He said:

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