G etting heritage bac k o n trac k
Protecting our heritage Fixing our broken heritage protection system Heritage protection and management in South Australia is in a parlous and deteriorating state. The legislative, policy and administrative structures established over the last fifty years are in dire need of reform if we want to protect our built and natural heritage for the future. The urgency of fixing our moribund heritage protection system is exacerbated by the disastrous planning ‘reforms’ enacted over a period of years spanning terms of the Marshall Liberal Government and the previous Labor Government and the larger, global issue of climate change and its impacts on our built and natural environments. Over the last twenty years, a series of reviews and recommendations to maintain and strengthen protections have failed to take effect. The last four years have seen a further serious decline in protections and their management. The governance and management of heritage protection in South Australia has been further undermined by the creeping politicisation and under resourcing of supposedly independent bodies such as the South Australian Heritage Council. South Australia’s Heritage Places Act has not been significantly amended since it was proclaimed almost thirty years ago. PI CT UR ED
Top: Shed 26 at Port Adelaide prior to demolition. Right: Waite Gatehouse rally, 2021.
Here we suggest three areas of focus to start to fix our broken heritage protection system so that it might be fit for its purpose of sustaining our built, cultural and natural heritage. H E R I TAG E L I V I NG
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