Page 1432 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 3 May 2016
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nominating authority’s authorisation. New section 33A also sets out the grounds on which the minister may cancel or suspend, and the relevant matters that must be considered.
I would also like to discuss some of the amendments to the Heritage Act contained in the bill. Various sections of the Heritage Act refer to members of the public making comments to the Heritage Council during public consultation periods. The council is required to consider those comments. As currently drafted, the provisions potentially allow for comments from the public to be in both written and oral form. Receiving oral comments presents issues in accurately recording the content of the comments and having proof of them being made.
A person who has made formal comments during a public consultation process may also become an interested person for the purposes of the Heritage Act. This means that they may be required to be notified of decisions and may have certain ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal merits review rights.
The amendments in clauses 45 and 46 of the bill will require all comments made to the council during public consultations to be in writing. Reports on the outcome of public consultation processes will need to identify, and respond to, issues raised in the written comments. These amendments will clarify any ambiguity as to the form that consultation comments need to be in and is consistent with the approach to receiving comments during public consultations under the Planning and Development Act. This change is not anticipated to disadvantage any person engaging through the public consultation process, and the Heritage Council will assist those who are unable to make a comment in writing by, for example, taking a statement from that person.
A final technical amendment to the Heritage Act that I would like to discuss is made by clause 41 of the bill. Clause 41 inserts a new section 118B into the Heritage Act. This new section will allow the Heritage Council to request contact information for lessees from the commissioner for revenue. Under various sections of the Heritage Act, the council is required to notify particular persons, for example, of decisions made by the council. In the case of a heritage precinct, this can often involve a large number of people. The council is subject to strict statutory time frames in which it must notify relevant persons and therefore needs readily available and up-to-date contact information for all lessees.
New section 118B is an equivalent provision to section 395B of the Planning and Development Act. This ensures consistency in the process of requesting information and minimises the administrative burden placed on the commissioner for revenue. The new section will allow the council to request and obtain contact information from the commissioner relating to all leases in the ACT once every three months. The council must not use any information provided by the commissioner about a lessee, other than for giving notice to the lessee or taking action which affects the lessee. Further, as a public sector agency, the Heritage Council is bound by the Information Privacy Act 2014 in relation to the use and disclosure of any personal information that the council receives.
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