Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Bill 2011

On 5 October 2011 the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Bill was introduced to Parliament. Arts, Culture, and Heritage Minister, the Hon Chris Finlayson, has said that the Bill is the result of three years work and will "strengthen the [Historic Places] Trust's governance, clarify its regulatory role, and streamline its activity in relation to archaeological sites".

If passed the Bill will repeal the Historic Places Act 1993 (HP Act) and will:

• change the name of the Historic Places Trust (Trust) to Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (Heritage NZ) (see clause 9 of this Bill);

• disestablish the Trust's branch committees, and replace three elected positions on the Trust's Board with two members to be appointed by the Minister (see clause 10);

• retain the existing Maori Heritage Council (see clause 23);

• retain the purpose and principles of the HP Act, but add the principle that there is value in local authorities, corporations, societies, and individuals working collaboratively in respect to New Zealand's historical and cultural heritage (see clause 4);

• clarify Heritage NZ's duty to decline an application for registration of a historic place on the heritage register when the application has no merit (see clause 65(3));

• impose a process and timeframes for decision-making concerning applications for archaeological authorities to undertake activities that will or may harm archaeological sites. The process and the timeframes will generally align with those applicable under the Resource Management Act 1991 (see clause 44); and

• put in place a process for obtaining archaeological authorities in the event of a national or local emergency that causes or is likely to cause loss of life or serious injury or serious damage to property (see clauses 58-62). For such emergency applications Heritage NZ must make a decision not later that three days after the application is received, or, in relation to sites of significance to Maori, no later than five days after the application is received.

The Ministry is now to undertake a review of the registration of historic places. This is intended to be completed in time to feed in to the select committee process and has the purpose of ensuring that "New Zealand has a coordinated and efficient system for historic heritage identification, and priority is given to identifying and protecting places of greatest importance to New Zealand".

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Last updated: 2 November 2011

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