Governing the City State - Chief Minister and Treasury Directorate ...

In responding to the recently completed review of the Heritage Act 2004, the Government isseeking to develop a coherent package of measures intended to foster, as recommended, a moreproactive and strategic approach to heritage, including that the identification and assessment ofplaces with heritage value would be guided by the Government’s priorities, rather than by thebacklog of nominations. It will, for example, assist timely decision-making on developmentapplications if heritage surveys and assessments can anticipate likely future developmentdecisions, particularly for new housing developments. This will be achieved by the HeritageCouncil and Government settling an annual list of priority areas and themes for assessment.These priority areas would generally reflect the best available knowledge of areas that arelikely to be subject to development or other land use changes. The use of themes would allowfor more efficient technical assessment of heritage places within the context of similar placeswithin the ACT. The Council’s identification and assessment program, based on thesepriorities, would consider nominated places by the public in response to the priorities, andplaces currently in the nomination ‘backlog’.The Heritage Unit should be transferred to Sustainable Development. ACT Heritageadministers the heritage provisions of the Heritage Act 2004 and assists in conservation of theACT's heritage assets to ensure their identification, preservation, protection, maintenance andenhancement (where appropriate) for present and future generations. It has close connectionsto the planning and development approval processes, and should be located in that portfolio.It is not proposed to subsume heritage within ACTPLA, or mainstream heritage in the planningsystem (of which Marshall is not supportive in his review). 238 Location of relevantinstrumentalities under one Minister in one portfolio will enhance coherence and consistency inachieving government priorities and efficient functioning of the planning system.This location of heritage as part of the range of instrumentalities with an interest in the planningand development approval process might also assist in overcoming the problem highlighted bythe Heritage Act Review that “there is much misunderstanding or a lack of understanding aboutheritage generally and the operations of the ACT heritage system. This applies both withGovernment as well as the broader community. While there is no policy to conceal informationabout operations, there seems to be considerable scope to improve transparency and239understanding in a range of areas”.ACT Civil and Administrative TribunalA number of submissions and consultations raised concerns about the role of the ACT Civiland Administrative Tribunal (ACAT) in the development approval process. In general,concerns related to:• the level of experience of Tribunal members in planning and development issues;238 Marshall, D. (2010) p.92.239 Marshall, D. (2010) p.ii.Administrative Arrangements Changes: 196