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Minister grabs power to make heritage history

HISTORIC buildings could be taken off the heritage list and redeveloped after the NSW Government changed laws protecting them writes Matthew Benns in the Sydney Morning Herald of June 14 2009.

The new Heritage Bill gives Planning Minister Kristina Keneally the power to remove items from the State Heritage Register without the agreement of the Heritage Council. It also allows the minister to pick the members of the Heritage Council and makes expertise in property development a qualification for selection.

Lord Mayor of Sydney Clover Moore said: "I share strong community concern about the increased ministerial power over the heritage process, which the community sees is about appeasing developers and removing the community's say."

The Heritage Council has been cut from 15 members to 11 with just one - nominated by the National Trust - completely independent from the minister.

NSW executive director of the National Trust John Neish said: "The bill formalises placing at the minister's sole discretion the ability to de-list State Heritage Register-listed places. This could occur if the minister believes there is financial hardship or that long-term neglect has diminished the integrity of the heritage-listed item. This is an extraordinary change to the de-listing process."

President of the Professional Historians Association Virginia Macleod said it was ridiculous that the Heritage Council did not have a historian as a member.

Listings on the State Heritage Register range from the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge to 11 buildings on Macquarie Street and post offices and town halls. NSW has at least 5000 buildings waiting to be listed.

"The Government has nobbled the Heritage Council and stolen most of its powers," said the NSW Greens MP Sylvia Hale.

A spokeswoman for the Local Government Association said: "The changes proposed in the bill have potential to undermine the current independent and scientifically based methodology that is used to assess a place for heritage significance. Economic factors will be given a higher priority when properties are being assessed for listing on the State Register."

The Opposition Leader, Barry O'Farrell, said: "This is a Trojan horse of a bill. It is apparently about heritage, but in reality it is about centralising more power in the hands of the state's minister for planning despite Independent Commission Against Corruption reports about the corruption risks involved and despite a donations-for-decisions culture in this state that stinks from Macquarie Street down to Wollongong."

Ms Keneally said the changes would ensure people with the right mix of experience were assessing heritage.

"The idea that I would skew membership of the Heritage Council in favour of developers or any one group is ridiculous."

Source: www.smh.com.au/national/minister-grabs-power-to-make-heritage-history-20090613-c6pn.html