news, act-politics, gary kent, australian heritage council, national trust, heritage listing, canberra
Canberra’s nomination to the national heritage list has languished for nearly a decade, which shows more needs to be done to get assessments completed and sites listed, the National Trust says. National Trust ACT president Gary Kent told a parliamentary inquiry on Friday there should be an independent process to assess nominations to the national heritage list. “We think there should be a willingness to actually list a lot more than has been listed,” said Mr Kent, speaking on behalf of the Australian Council of National Trusts. “We’re very disappointed that in the last 20 years or so that there’s only been about 130 heritage listings. We believe that there is much more heritage around than 130 places. Assessments take a long time but they often don’t actually progress.” Mr Kent said there needed to be a more independent process, with adequate funding allocated to the Australian Heritage Council. “We think that the resources given to the Australian Heritage Council should be increased. We don’t believe that heritage listing should be purely a function of the Commonwealth minister,” Mr Kent told the inquiry into nationhood, national identity and democracy. Canberra was nominated for the national heritage list in 2011 and the Australian Heritage Council has said it “believes that Canberra might have National Heritage values against several National Heritage criteria”. Mr Kent told the Sunday Canberra Times the ACT National Trust expected a decision on the assessment soon, which was thought to be nearly completed. “The work on the assessment is virtually complete. It should be very close to going to the federal minister to make an announcement on the heritage listing on Canberra. I gather that the ACT government has now agreed with the scope of the listing,” he said. “That would worry us a little bit because the Barr government has always wanted a very limited listing, not the expansive ones which were put forward and we prefer.” Mr Kent said listing Canberra would not lock down development, but protect some of the key characteristics of the early planned city. “It [would] demonstrate to the rest of Australia and the world that we have a city that we’re proud of … and it could be used to promote tourism and attract investment into Canberra in the right way,” he said.
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Canberra’s nomination to the national heritage list has languished for nearly a decade, which shows more needs to be done to get assessments completed and sites listed, the National Trust says.
National Trust ACT president Gary Kent told a parliamentary inquiry on Friday there should be an independent process to assess nominations to the national heritage list.
“We think there should be a willingness to actually list a lot more than has been listed,” said Mr Kent, speaking on behalf of the Australian Council of National Trusts.
“We’re very disappointed that in the last 20 years or so that there’s only been about 130 heritage listings. We believe that there is much more heritage around than 130 places. Assessments take a long time but they often don’t actually progress.”
Mr Kent said there needed to be a more independent process, with adequate funding allocated to the Australian Heritage Council.
“We think that the resources given to the Australian Heritage Council should be increased. We don’t believe that heritage listing should be purely a function of the Commonwealth minister,” Mr Kent told the inquiry into nationhood, national identity and democracy.
Canberra was nominated for the national heritage list in 2011 and the Australian Heritage Council has said it “believes that Canberra might have National Heritage values against several National Heritage criteria”.
Mr Kent told the Sunday Canberra Times the ACT National Trust expected a decision on the assessment soon, which was thought to be nearly completed.
“The work on the assessment is virtually complete. It should be very close to going to the federal minister to make an announcement on the heritage listing on Canberra. I gather that the ACT government has now agreed with the scope of the listing,” he said.
“That would worry us a little bit because the Barr government has always wanted a very limited listing, not the expansive ones which were put forward and we prefer.”
Mr Kent said listing Canberra would not lock down development, but protect some of the key characteristics of the early planned city.
“It [would] demonstrate to the rest of Australia and the world that we have a city that we’re proud of … and it could be used to promote tourism and attract investment into Canberra in the right way,” he said.
