There seems to be a certain irony about heritage orders ! The people who call for them to be slapped on existing items are not the owners - nor do they wish to contribute to the cost of their preservation !
The Port Kembla Copper stack falls into this category. It is the remnant of a failed copper smelter to meet environmental standards when it became surrounded by domestic housing. It is riddled with concrete cancer and eventually this will progress to the point of collapse in windy conditions.
Plans are under way for it's demolition, but now there are calls for it to be subjected to a heritage order. This would necessitate a heritage assessment - costing $ 100,000 and introduce a delay of three months - and a first estimate to repair and make the stack safe would cost in the vicinity of $ 20 million.
If the heritage call succeeds - who pays this $ 100,000 liability for an assessment - and who pays $ 20 million to preserve the stack ? It will certainly not be the party suggesting the stack be " saved " !
It seems that anybody can enlist the media and make a case for a heritage order. When the University of Wollongong acquired the old Migrant Hostel site at Fairy Meadow it got into trouble for demolishing some of the decrepit Nissan huts on the site.
Two Nissan huts were still standing and have been refurbished, but many people would wonder why we need a reminder of a past age - and what is so special about these examples of war time construction methods.
Heritage orders are a reason any business thinking of starting manufacturing would need to think long and hard before committing themselves to construction. In the distant future whatever they build can linger and have to be maintained - at their cost - because some public spirited person thinks a heritage order would be a good idea.
But - not with his or her money, of course !
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