The Legislative Council’s Standing Committee on Social Issues has opened public consultation on the review of NSW Heritage laws, in particular the NSW Heritage Act 1977.
Minister Responsible for Heritage, Don Harwin said the Committee is to undertake a comprehensive public inquiry into the adequacy of the Act, consider Heritage NSW’s recently released discussion paper, and hear from the community and stakeholders.
“The current legislation does not meet the contemporary needs of the community,” Mr Harwin said.
“It is time that we make it easier, more affordable and more desirable to activate and conserve the State’s heritage,” he said.
Mr Harwin said Heritage NSW’s discussion paper, Review of NSW Heritage Legislation, proposed a number of reforms and considerations, including introducing a category system; tailoring listings to protect items while making it easier to undertake conservation; and incentivising adaptive reuse of heritage buildings.
He said people could review the Discussion Paper and make submissions to the Committee until 27 June.
Heritage NSW welcomed the Committee’s review saying it would look into how NSW could deliver more effective, relevant, and best-practice ways of recognising, conserving, re-using and celebrating the State’s heritage
It said its Discussion Paper posed some questions to assist with public consultation and the review’s findings would contribute to the evidence base for legislative reform.
Chair of the Social Issues Committee, Shayne Mallard said there hadn’t been any major reforms to NSW heritage legislation since 1999.
Heritage NSW’s 23-page Discussion Paper can be accessed at this PS News link and submissions to the Standing Committee’s inquiry can be lodged at this link.
