New laws imposing stronger penalties on people who damage heritage places or objects have been foreshadowed by the Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Mick Gentleman.
Mr Gentleman said that under the new rules, offenders could also be required to repair the damage they cause.
He said the introduction of ‘on-the-spot’ fines would act as a deterrent and discourage people from causing damage deliberately or accidently.
“The Government is proposing an infringement notice scheme where compliance officers can issue an immediate $1,000 fine for damage to a heritage place, regardless of whether it can be repaired,” Mr Gentleman said.
“The current big stick option of prosecution can be costly, drawn out and inflexible, meaning people may get away with causing minor damage.”
He said the new processes would cut red tape and give the Heritage Council more flexibility in dealing with problems, allowing quicker, more appropriate outcomes.
“The Canberra community has told us they want more effective and flexible ways to deal with breaches of the Heritage Act and damage to heritage places and objects,” he said.
“We want to give the Heritage Council authority to issue a direction where there is an imminent threat to the heritage significance of a place or object.”
Mr Gentleman said the current threshold wording of ‘serious’ would be removed allowing heritage directions to be issued for minor to moderate offences.
