Future members of the ACT heritage council should only be picked if they can work in a team, the former chair of a sacked heritage council has said.
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Dr Ken Heffernan said regulations for the heritage system should set out the relationship between the heritage council and heritage unit officials, and the government needed to undertake more compliance and enforcement of heritage rules.
A review of the heritage council commissioned by Heritage Minister Rebecca Vassarotti last year found evidence of "unprofessional behaviour", prompting Ms Vassarotti to dismiss the council's remaining members.
Dr Heffernan told a Legislative Assembly inquiry into the ACT's heritage arrangements due diligence on prospective heritage council members could note their record in government, advisory board or council roles.
"Given that decision making is made by council as a whole, it would be useful to include, in the criteria for council membership selection, the ability to work in teams," Dr Heffernan wrote in a submission to the standing committee on environment, climate change and biodiversity.
Dr Heffernan noted he served on the heritage council between 2017 until he resigned last year. He had previously served on the first territory heritage council between 1992 and 1997.
Dr Heffernan said council members should be governed by the territory government's integrity framework, with clearer rules for the roles of council members and staff.
Ms Vassarotti is yet to appoint members to an interim heritage council, which will operate during a government-run review of the heritage system.
The heritage council decides which places will receive protection in the territory and provides advice to heritage place owners and government.
Dr Heffernan said funding for heritage staff had been inadequate to deliver advice to the owners and developers of heritage sites, which had diminished the reputation of the heritage system in the territory.
The heritage list had become unreliable and needed urgent investment, while funding should expand the scope of strategic heritage studies to find places worthy of protection.
"It is much better to do this than to impact development aspirations by nominations at the final moment," Dr Heffernan wrote.
Dr Heffernan said it was essential for the council to include Indigenous and community representatives, an architect and an archaeologist, and the heritage system needed to include knowledge of the maintenance needs of government-owned and managed heritage sites.
"Compliance and enforcement activity in relation to listed heritage places appears to be very limited. A good compliance strategy and risk analysis needs to be prepared and implemented in consultation with expert compliance officers. A greater presence, even in the issuing of warnings, is essential to prevent the gradual erosion of heritage values," he said.
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The Griffith Narrabundah Community Association told the inquiry the old streetscapes of the suburbs would be "destroyed" if draft plans allowing three-storey buildings in the area proceed.
The association recently successfully challenged a government-backed plan to build three supported-living dwellings on the block of a government house in an area of Griffith zoned for detached housing, with the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal overturning planning approval for the site.
The association argued in its heritage inquiry submission more needed to be done to protect heritage characteristics as well as heritage buildings.
"This threatened developmental vandalism is unconscionable," the association's submission said of broader plans to increase density in the suburbs, calling on the government to acknowledge in the planning system the value of heritage protection but separate its heritage unit from the Planning Directorate.
The Canberra and District Historical Society agreed the heritage unit should be separate from the planning authority.
"The heritage arrangements should be separate from the main planning and development portfolio so there is no conflict of interest," the society said.
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Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
