WA Govt expresses strong opposition to the potential National Heritage Listing of Fremantle Port by the Federal Govt, citing impracticality and economic impact.

AnsweredQoN 675Legislative Assembly
Asked
8 November 2005
Portfolio
Planning and Infrastructure

QuestionView source ↗

What are the implications for Western Australia if the federal government gets its way and the port of Fremantle is put on the National Heritage List? Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the member for some notice of this question. It is a most extraordinary development in which the federal government’s heritage body has advertised the entire inner harbour of the port of Fremantle for heritage listing. It did not have the courtesy to allow the port of Fremantle or the state government to know that it was following this course of action. It would be entirely impractical for this to occur. It is quite ironic that the federal government was racing around the country last year pontificating about bottlenecks in Australian ports. It is proposing to put in place one of the most comprehensive bottlenecks known to mankind. It would mean that every time we sought to change a piece of infrastructure in the port or we sought to do some dredging we would have to go to a group of heritage gurus in Canberra to seek approval. That is an absolute nonsense. Mrs M.H. Roberts : They could heritage list the Perth airport site. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : They could certainly heritage list the Perth airport site; that would be a very interesting development. The federal Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell, thinks that it is quite appropriate for the federal government to use its aviation powers to approve brickworks without full environmental scrutiny. The senator believes that he should take over coastal planning in Western Australia because he wants to see Gold Coast-style high-rise developments on our coast. This is a pretty extraordinary situation in which the federal government has decided to come in and effectively take over port operations in the name of heritage. Western Australia is punching well above its weight in its contribution to the economy. The efficient operation of our ports is an integral part of our continued performance and subsidisation of the rest of the nation. We urge all members on the other side of the house to speak to their federal colleagues and tell them that this is all absolute nonsense.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. It is a most extraordinary development in which the federal government’s heritage body has advertised the entire inner harbour of the port of Fremantle for heritage listing. It did not have the courtesy to allow the port of Fremantle or the state government to know that it was following this course of action. It would be entirely impractical for this to occur. It is quite ironic that the federal government was racing around the country last year pontificating about bottlenecks in Australian ports. It is proposing to put in place one of the most comprehensive bottlenecks known to mankind. It would mean that every time we sought to change a piece of infrastructure in the port or we sought to do some dredging we would have to go to a group of heritage gurus in Canberra to seek approval. That is an absolute nonsense. Mrs M.H. Roberts : They could heritage list the Perth airport site. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : They could certainly heritage list the Perth airport site; that would be a very interesting development. The federal Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell, thinks that it is quite appropriate for the federal government to use its aviation powers to approve brickworks without full environmental scrutiny. The senator believes that he should take over coastal planning in Western Australia because he wants to see Gold Coast-style high-rise developments on our coast. This is a pretty extraordinary situation in which the federal government has decided to come in and effectively take over port operations in the name of heritage. Western Australia is punching well above its weight in its contribution to the economy. The efficient operation of our ports is an integral part of our continued performance and subsidisation of the rest of the nation. We urge all members on the other side of the house to speak to their federal colleagues and tell them that this is all absolute nonsense.
I thank the member for some notice of this question. It is a most extraordinary development in which the federal government’s heritage body has advertised the entire inner harbour of the port of Fremantle for heritage listing. It did not have the courtesy to allow the port of Fremantle or the state government to know that it was following this course of action. It would be entirely impractical for this to occur. It is quite ironic that the federal government was racing around the country last year pontificating about bottlenecks in Australian ports. It is proposing to put in place one of the most comprehensive bottlenecks known to mankind. It would mean that every time we sought to change a piece of infrastructure in the port or we sought to do some dredging we would have to go to a group of heritage gurus in Canberra to seek approval. That is an absolute nonsense. Mrs M.H. Roberts : They could heritage list the Perth airport site. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : They could certainly heritage list the Perth airport site; that would be a very interesting development. The federal Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell, thinks that it is quite appropriate for the federal government to use its aviation powers to approve brickworks without full environmental scrutiny. The senator believes that he should take over coastal planning in Western Australia because he wants to see Gold Coast-style high-rise developments on our coast. This is a pretty extraordinary situation in which the federal government has decided to come in and effectively take over port operations in the name of heritage. Western Australia is punching well above its weight in its contribution to the economy. The efficient operation of our ports is an integral part of our continued performance and subsidisation of the rest of the nation. We urge all members on the other side of the house to speak to their federal colleagues and tell them that this is all absolute nonsense.
Mrs M.H. Roberts : They could heritage list the Perth airport site. Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : They could certainly heritage list the Perth airport site; that would be a very interesting development. The federal Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell, thinks that it is quite appropriate for the federal government to use its aviation powers to approve brickworks without full environmental scrutiny. The senator believes that he should take over coastal planning in Western Australia because he wants to see Gold Coast-style high-rise developments on our coast. This is a pretty extraordinary situation in which the federal government has decided to come in and effectively take over port operations in the name of heritage. Western Australia is punching well above its weight in its contribution to the economy. The efficient operation of our ports is an integral part of our continued performance and subsidisation of the rest of the nation. We urge all members on the other side of the house to speak to their federal colleagues and tell them that this is all absolute nonsense.
Ms A.J.G. MacTIERNAN : They could certainly heritage list the Perth airport site; that would be a very interesting development. The federal Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell, thinks that it is quite appropriate for the federal government to use its aviation powers to approve brickworks without full environmental scrutiny. The senator believes that he should take over coastal planning in Western Australia because he wants to see Gold Coast-style high-rise developments on our coast. This is a pretty extraordinary situation in which the federal government has decided to come in and effectively take over port operations in the name of heritage. Western Australia is punching well above its weight in its contribution to the economy. The efficient operation of our ports is an integral part of our continued performance and subsidisation of the rest of the nation. We urge all members on the other side of the house to speak to their federal colleagues and tell them that this is all absolute nonsense.

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