Attending the DOCOMOMO international conference in Ljubljana last September served to reinforce my concerns that modern architectural heritage is still not well protected in NSW. This is not for lack of trying, nor is it for lack of legislation. Attempts to heritage list the Sirius building have highlighted where the problem lies. The NSW Heritage Council unanimously supported the heritage listing. As the government sought income from the sale of the site, the listing was rejected. As the Save our Sirius campaign has pointed out the tailored advice supporting the refusal did not tally with the views of any of leading expert bodies. This is not the first time that the minister has refused to include a twentieth century item on the state heritage register (SHR). Not taking the view of expert bodies is not confined to the built heritage, and is one of the issues that have come to light during investigations into the Murray-Darling environmental catastrophe.
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