Page 382 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 18 February 2020
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defined offence provisions relating to the damage of a heritage place or object, the failure to comply with a repair damage direction can be grounds for a heritage order made by the Supreme Court.
The bill will also give the Heritage Council the authority to issue a section 62 direction where there is an imminent threat to the heritage significance of a place or object. The current threshold wording of “serious” will be removed so that heritage directions will be able to be issued for minor to moderate offences. The bill does not propose to change the offence for not complying with a section 62 heritage direction. Substantial penalties of a thousand penalty units will remain for this offence. This equates to $160,000 for an individual and $810,000 for a corporation.
Five penalty units are necessary in the heritage context, to provide a genuine disincentive; to protect these often rare and unique places and objects as, once these places are lost, they are lost forever; and to send a strong message to the community that disregard for the law should not be seen as a mere cost of doing business. If penalty units are set too low, the cost of penalties to be paid may in some cases simply be viewed as an effective cost of redeveloping a site to its maximum potential to achieve a desired development outcome, resulting in significant commercial advantage. As such, penalty units for damage to heritage places and objects must be significant enough to deter such thinking, to protect these important places and objects.
A clear message must be sent that wilful and illegal destruction of our heritage will not be tolerated. The ACT government plays a critical and public role in safeguarding the ACT’s heritage assets for current and future generations. It is important that the ACT government leads by example in the way it cares for, maintains and protects these assets. This includes robust, efficient and effective regulatory and compliance legislation.
While not part of this bill, the government will also introduce an infringement notice scheme where compliance officers can issue an immediate $1,000 fine to an individual and $5,000 to a corporation for minor damage to a heritage place, regardless of whether it can be repaired. The strict liability offences, or infringements, are primarily aimed at conduct on the less serious side of the criminal spectrum. The maximum penalty is usually limited to a monetary penalty of 50 penalty units. However, the Heritage Act establishes strict liability offences for damage to a heritage place or object as 100 penalty units and this is not proposed for amendment.
On-the-spot fines will act as a deterrent to discourage people from causing damage, deliberately or accidentally. These amendments will enable immediate action where a heritage place or object is damaged. There are limitations in the use of heritage directions for the protection of heritage places or objects. Currently, section 62 heritage directions can only be issued for places at serious and imminent threat, which does not generally allow for repair directions to be issued after damage to a heritage place has occurred, such as in the case of unapproved works.
Additionally, section 62 heritage directions are unable to be used for minor to moderate offences due to the threshold wording of “serious”. Due to the current limitations in issuing heritage directions, offences cannot be dealt with simply. There
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