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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 301 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 24 June 2021 by Mr R.S. Love

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

SOUTH FREMANTLE POWER STATION — REGISTER OF HERITAGE PLACES

301. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Minister for Heritage:

I refer to the minister's announcement on 14 June that the South Fremantle power station has been added to the state Register of Heritage Places.

(1) Who sought that listing?

(2) When did the Heritage Council of Western Australia commence consideration of this final listing and when was the minister made aware of it?

(3) Has the minister been in any discussions regarding this listing with the unsolicited bidder mentioned by the Minister for Energy today?

Mr D.A. TEMPLEMAN replied:

(1)–(3) The answer to the last question is no. The Heritage Council had a number of interim-listed sites, with some of them dating back to over 20 years ago. Under the new Heritage Act, which this government introduced and which reformed a Heritage Act that a former Labor government introduced, a series of heritage assets that —

Dr A.D. Buti: Did they put the Liberal Party on the list?

Mr D.A. TEMPLEMAN: There have to be criteria including relevance for heritage items and I am not sure whether the Liberal Party fits that criterion!

A series of assets would have actually come off the interim list and potentially not been protected, so the Heritage Council, as is appropriate, held an independent process that finalised the assessment of a range of heritage assets, including Victoria Quay, Fremantle port and a number of other sites, including those on Wadjemup (Rottnest Island). That is a normal process of the Heritage Council and, indeed, it is a process that I support. I was very happy to support the acquisition of those assets on the state register.

The member's conspiracy theories that he might have are very puzzling, and one needs to be reminded that, as we have seen with a number of heritage assets, the application of heritage value, be it on a municipal list or on the state register, is not an imposition to the protection and the enhancement of such an asset. We have seen this along St Georges Terrace with the former Treasury buildings, as one example, but there are a number. Adaptive re-use is now a very important principle in protecting heritage assets. I am looking forward to the interest, and it seems that there is deep interest, which is great, that may have been expressed because a high-value heritage outcome will be delivered, as well as an adaptive re-use proposal for the future of that very important state-registered heritage asset.