Register of the National Estate
Following amendments to the Australian Heritage Council Act 2003, the Register of the National Estate (RNE) was frozen on 19 February 2007, which means that no new places can be added, or removed.
The Register will continue as a statutory register until February 2012. During this period the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts (the Minister) is required to continue considering the Register when making some decisions under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). This transition period also allows states, territories, local and the Australian Government to complete the task of transferring places to appropriate heritage registers where necessary and to amend legislation that refers to the RNE as a statutory list.
From February 2012 all references to the Register will be removed from the EPBC Act and the AHC Act. The RNE will be maintained after this time on a non-statutory basis as a publicly available archive.
What is the Register of the National Estate?
Register of the National Estate is a list of natural, Indigenous and historic heritage places throughout Australia.
It was originally established under the Australian Heritage Commission Act 1975. Under that Act, the Australian Heritage Commission entered more than 13,000 places in the register. In 2004, responsibility for maintaining the Register shifted to the Australian Heritage Council, under the Australian Heritage Council Act 2003 (AHC Act).
A new national heritage system
On 1 January 2004, a new national heritage system was established under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). This led to the introduction of the National Heritage List, which was designed to recognise and protect places of outstanding heritage to the nation, and the Commonwealth Heritage List, which includes Commonwealth owned or leased places of significant heritage value.
The establishment of this national system was in line with a 1997 agreement by the Council of Australian Governments that each level of government should be responsible for protecting heritage at the appropriate level. The Australian Governments role in relation to heritage is to focus on protecting places of world and national heritage significance and on ensuring Commonwealth compliance with state heritage and planning laws. Each state and territory government, and local government, has a similar responsibility for its own heritage.
As a result, there was a significant level of overlap between the Register of the National Estate, and heritage lists at the national, state and territory, and local government levels.
How will places in the Register be protected?
Many places in the Register are already included in other statutory lists, such as the state heritage lists, or local government heritage registers. As a result, those places receive protection under the relevant federal, state or territory legislation, or under council bylaws.
In the case of places of national or Commonwealth significance that are in the Register, some of these places are already included in the National Heritage List or the Commonwealth Heritage List, and therefore receive protection under the EPBC Act. The Australian Government will, over the next five years, assess whether there are further places in the Register that should be included in the Commonwealth Heritage List.
Contact
Community Information Unit
Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts
Email: ciu@environment.gov.au
Tel: 1800 803 772 (freecall)
Quick Links
- Public notices
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