Statutes Amendment (Heritage) Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 6 February 2025.)

Ms CLANCY (Elder) (12:48): I am very excited to be speaking about this bill today. I rise today in support of the Statutes Amendment (Heritage) Bill 2025, which amends the Heritage Places Act 1993 and also the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act 2016 to better reflect the expectations South Australians hold when it comes to protecting built heritage in our state.

At the 2022 state election, the Malinauskas Labor team promised to introduce legislation that would require any proposed demolition of a state heritage site be subject to full public consultation and require an assessment report from the SA Heritage Council to be publicly available. As committed by Labor, this report must be tabled in parliament and allow for scrutiny by all members, avoiding a situation where one minister is solely responsible for the demolition of a State Heritage Place.

Looking back to 2020, it becomes clear why this Labor government have made protecting heritage a priority and will fulfil the promises we have made. In 2020, the Marshall Liberal government announced it would bulldoze the 130-year-old Waite Gatehouse—part of the Waite Arboretum and gifted to the people of South Australia—to make way for an intersection upgrade.

The public were rightly outraged and felt their opposition was ignored by then transport minister, Corey Wingard. It was only after months of pressure and an open letter to the then Premier Steven Marshall from 25 community groups, including the National Trust, the SA History Council, the University of Adelaide, and the City of Mitcham, that the Liberal government caved in to pressure and agreed to rebuild the gatehouse on the south-eastern side of the Waite Arboretum.

I was proud last year to stand with the Deputy Premier and the member for Waite, and also Louise Miller-Frost, the member for Boothby, at the opening of the newly rebuilt gatehouse, and it looks fantastic. Without this sustained community campaign, the gatehouse would not have been rebuilt; rather, its blue stone walls and irreplaceable Aldgate sandstone lintels would have ended up as road base. I thank everyone who worked so hard for this community win that ensures the gatehouse will be enjoyed for many, many years and generations to come.

In 2021, members of the community were then shocked when the Marshall Liberal government gave the National Trust 31 days to vacate Ayers House on North Terrace, an historic property the trust had maintained at no cost to the state government for over 50 years. This eviction notice was delivered on behalf of the Minister for Environment and Water, the now former Leader of the Opposition, David Speirs, and triggered an outpouring of anger from the general public, community groups and members of the National Trust.

As you are all aware, Ayers House is one of the finest examples of Regency architecture in Australia. Perched on North Terrace, the house is named after its original owner, Sir Henry Ayers, distinguished politician, financier, and Premier of South Australia. Ayers House served as a private residence until 1909, and an entertainment space known as The Austral from 1914. Now if you are looking for The Austral, just head over to Rundle Street. The house was a club for returned soldiers and sailors after the First World War, and was then acquired by the South Australian government in 1926 for use as a training school and residence for nurses at the Adelaide hospital.

The house was slated for demolition when the hospital built a residential wing for nurses in 1969. But Ayers House was saved from demolition in 1970, by the great Premier, Don Dunstan, who saw the potential for tourism and education about the site. Dunstan entrusted care of the house to the National Trust who faithfully maintained the building and have facilitated public access (and some great weddings) for over 50 years. Unfortunately, none of this was enough to save Ayers House from the former Liberal government who, despite the promises to heritage groups prior to the 2018 election, had plans to convert Ayers House into office space for some very lucky bureaucrats, dislocate the Museum's 30,000 artefacts, and put an end to South Australian schoolchildren ever experiencing its ornate interiors.

Thankfully, the Malinauskas Labor government returned the National Trust to Ayers House permanently when we passed the Ayers House bill 2024 in April of last year. In June 2021, the Liberal government was at it again, introducing a bill to parliament that would abolish the Martindale Hall Conservation Park and extinguish its charitable trust to clear the way for private development. Completed in 1880 for pastoralist Edmund Bowman Jr, Martindale Hall is a 32-room mansion in the Georgian style, located near Mintaro (where you can also get some good slate) in the Clare Valley, in the member for Frome's area.

Due to debt and drought, Bowman was forced to sell in 1891 to William Mortlock. William's daughter-in-law eventually bequeathed the hall to the University of Adelaide in 1979 upon her death. The hall was listed in 1980 as a State Heritage Place and ownership was transferred by the university to the state government in 1986. Lots of exciting things happened in that year. The member the Wright might be aware that the member for Elder was born in the year 1986—a great year.

In 1991, the land on which Martindale Hall stands was proclaimed as the Martindale Hall Conservation Park under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 for the purpose of conserving the historic features of the land. The Liberal plan to repeal Martindale's conservation park status would have removed obstacles for the privatisation of the property and abolished the conditions imposed by the charitable trust, namely to maintain the historic integrity of the house and grounds. Under this Liberal plan, South Australians would have lost access to yet another heritage treasure.

When we look back at this collection of heritage horrors committed by the previous Liberal government, a few themes become clear. We witnessed repeated attempts to circumnavigate any genuine consultation with the general public or heritage groups. We witnessed disrespect for devoted stewardship of our heritage places, blatant disregard for promises to abstain from privatisation—and we saw that elsewhere as well by that government—and, with Ayers House in particular, we witnessed the contempt held for an organisation with an impeccable international reputation by then minister David Speirs.

With the Waite Gatehouse, Ayers House and Martindale Hall, we witnessed the Liberal Party's desire to promote privatisation and demolition over the public interest in heritage matters again and again to the detriment of the wider community. Perhaps most importantly, we saw massive community-led opposition to all these attacks on South Australia's built heritage. I was proud to attend the thousand-strong protest against the demolition of the Waite Gatehouse, which we now know was actually part of a wider Liberal plan to carry heavy freight down Cross Road.

The Mitcham Historical Society collected over 8,500 paper signatures, and 18,000 people signed the petition at Change.org to save the Waite Gatehouse. Six thousand paper signatures were gathered by the community to save Ayres House. This is the kind of engagement heritage issues generate. Our community is really passionate and truly cares about what happens to our state's heritage places.

When the Malinauskas Labor government conducted its review of the Planning and Design Code in 2022, one of the issues raised most often by my constituents was the desire for people to be able to have their say on heritage and development and, in particular, demolition. Now, it is important for me to mention that I proudly have South Australia's only heritage-listed suburb in my electorate—Colonel Light Gardens—and my constituents, I will have you know, are incredibly well-versed and very well-informed when it comes to all things heritage. From the examples I have discussed today, as well as the recent community campaign to Save the Cranker—which I am proud my government was able to engage with to achieve a good result—heritage protection is something that all of us would like to have a say in.

Our built heritage reflects our society in a moment of time. This cannot be replicated and should not be replaced. Heritage places have meaning to those who visit, live and work in them. Sometimes, they are cultural institutions for socialising and art, sometimes they are roadside markers that remind us of the incredible bequests our state has received. Very occasionally, state heritage listings represent an entire ethos of town planning, promoted by the Labor government of the time, to house returning soldiers.

This is why it is vital that, when an owner of a State Heritage Place makes an application for demolition: the place is subject to a contemporaneous assessment of its heritage significance prior to an application for demolition—this is critical, as it may encourage developers to reconsider their plans—the report must be prepared within a 10-week period; there is public consultation whereby people can make submissions on the report; and the report is tabled in parliament for scrutiny by all members. In addition, the amendment to the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act 2016 will ensure anyone looking to make an application for demolition through Plan SA is alerted to the contemporaneous assessment requirement.

I would like to thank the Deputy Premier and her team and everyone in the department for their work in bringing this bill before us today, and everyone who campaigned again and again to protect our heritage sites. I commend the bill to the house.

Mr BASHAM (Finniss) (12:59): I rise as the lead speaker, on behalf of the opposition, for this bill. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.

Sitting suspended from 13:00 to 14:00.