Hansard debates

                          GEOGRAPHIC PLACE NAMES BILL
                                 Second reading
Debate resumed from 26 February; motion of Mrs TEHAN (Minister for  Conservation
and Land Management).

  Ms GARBUTT (Bundoora)  --  The  opposition does not oppose the bill, which has
two main aims -- firstly,  to change the way  places  are named and the  process
that is gone through  before a place can  be named and, secondly, to  change the
way  place  names  are  registered  and  made  available to the public and other
interested parties. The bill is important in its  own  right because place names
are  important  to the  community.  We  need clear,  unambiguous  references for
communicating and identifying locations.

We need it in many fields -- transport, communication, services, commerce, local
government and so on --  and  as  individuals travelling around. These days with
interstate  and  global travel  and  communications we need  great  accuracy and
consistency.
The process over the years  since settlement  has been haphazard and we now have
confusion and duplication.  I am told that there are 55 Stony Creeks in Victoria
alone.
  An honourable member interjected.

  Ms  GARBUTT -- Including one in Footscray. There is probably a Stony Creek for
every honourable member. I do not know how many Railway Parades and Main Streets
there would be scattered throughout the towns of Victoria.

  Mrs Tehan -- And High Streets.

  Ms GARBUTT -- There would probably be  a High Street in every  town and suburb
in the  state. We  are stuck  with those  sorts of situations, we have inherited
that, but we have to map them and locate them extremely accurately these days.
The bill is important to the community because names preserve our heritage. They
tell of our culture, our history, the state and the people. Names are often used
symbolically to reflect  our historic events.  The  name Victoria, for  example,
came into being only  upon separation from the Colony of New South Wales, and it
was an event of great occasion.
We have seen the government recognise the importance of names.

For example, when the Premier changed the name of the National Tennis  Centre in
Flinders Park  to Melbourne Park I suspect it was an attempt to put his stamp on
the National Tennis Centre, which was built by the Cain government.
We see those sorts of important cultural and historic references throughout  our
communities and  for that reason, as well as others, it is  important to get the
names and locations accurately. Naming places and mapping them has been done  on
a very ad hoc basis over  the  years. Initially it was done by the  Governor and
more recently by local government. It was not until the Survey Co-ordination Act
was passed in 1958  that  many  of  the  different  roles  of surveying, naming,
mapping, registering the names and publishing the maps were drawn together. That
is the act this bill will amend.
The  act  established  the  Place Names Committee, which had the job  of  naming
places around the state. The committee consisted of seven members.

They were not appointed by  the  minister  or  the  Governor  in  Council; their
positions  were  nominated in the act. Section 24 gives us their positions:  one
had  to be the Surveyor-General, who  was the chairman; one had  to be the Chief
Drafting Officer of the Department of  Property  and Services, or his nominee --
we  no longer  have the Department of Property and Services,  let alone  a Chief
Drafting Officer; one had to be  the Surveyor  and Chief Draftsman of the Office
of Titles, or his nominee -- I think that office and position have probably gone
the way of the others; and one had to be 
the Secretary for Planning and Environment, or his nominee.
There were three others who were not public servants.

 Page 470


One had to be a person appointed by the Governor in Council on the nomination of
the Municipal Association of Victoria; one was to be appointed on the nomination
of the  Royal Historical Society of Victoria; and the third was appointed on the
nomination  of  the Minister responsible for Aboriginal Affairs.  Those  persons
represented various bodies and had various constituencies they had to respond to
and  various points  of view  they had to represent. The bill will  abolish that
committee.
In recent years the  naming of  our local  streets, roads  and features has been
done  by local government. The  authority has been  delegated  to councils. They
select the place  names and  refer the  names back to the Place Names Committee.
Councils  go through a process of consultation with the public and consider  any
objections or suggestions and then make their recommendations  to the committee.
Other bodies have rights to name various features, not least the State Electoral
Commission, which names our electorates.

Vicroads has significant naming power, as do many other bodies.
Other  changes  that  have   led  to  the  introduction   of  the  bill  include
technological changes. The  development  of the  Internet  allows us to  present
information in different ways and enables a greater number  of  people  to  have
access  to  the  information. It is considerably easier to update and locate the
information.
In recent times we have seen the use of that technology by various organisations
wishing to  have accurate, up-to-date  place  names. Most notably  this has been
evident with the emergency services,  particularly  the  ambulance, fire brigade
and police. They have turned to technology  to provide  them with fast access to
accurate maps and information.

Unfortunately, accompanying that lately we have had the Intergraph scandal where
the  provision of inaccurate  information  has led  to  disastrous outcomes with
ambulances going to the wrong addresses and the wrong streets, leaving people to
wait for appalling lengths of time. If the bill will help to eliminate that sort
of problem, it is to be welcomed.
I turn first  to  changes to the way  places  are named. Clause 5  provides  for
geographic  names  policy  guidelines  which   the   Governor   in  Council,  on
recommendation of  the minister, will  publish  in the  Government  Gazette. The
guidelines will set out  the rules  and process  to be  followed in selecting or
amending a  place name; set  out the  process to  be followed  for selecting  an
Aboriginal  or  Torres  Strait  Islander  name; specify  the  criteria  for  the
assessment of cultural heritage or other  significance; set out the requirements
for consultation before the name of the  place is  selected; and may specify any
other things necessary in relation to the naming of places.

The guidelines are crucial. They will be reviewed every five years. According to
the minister's second-reading speech the intention is  that local government and
other  delegated naming authorities  will use these guidelines in choosing place
names. Unfortunately the guidelines are not  in the  bill, so  we are  unable to
assess  them by looking at the  bill. We have to rely  on  what was said by  the
minister in her second-reading speech and hold our breaths about what will be in
the guidelines.
In her second-reading speech the minister says the role of local government will
be  enhanced  by  this process, but after I  sent  a  copy  of the bill and  the
minister's speech to the Municipal Association of  Victoria it expressed concern
because  the bill is not  clear  about the role of  local government. I ask  the
minister to note the response of the MAV. Rob Spence, the CEO, states:

  While  you  have  suggested  the  bill  will  give  local  government  greater
  responsibility for naming local places, that  is not immediately  obvious from
  the contents of the bill ...
  The current powers of councils simply enable the council to approve, assign or
  change  the name  of the  road (or  street)  and then  advise the  Place Names
  Committee of what has  been done.  This bill proposes in clause 23 that clause
  5(2) of schedule 10 of the Local Government Act be altered to require that the
  council must act in accordance with the guidelines in force for the time being
  under the geographic  names policy guidelines  and  the definition of  'place'
  (clause 3) includes 'streets' and 'roads'.
Their  responsibilities  are included in the bill and  a  council  must  act  in
accordance with the guidelines. He further states:

  The impact of  the  bill  in respect of councils is therefore contradictory in
  the sense that the lack of effect detailed in clause 4(b) is quite contrary to
  the change  proposed to be effected through clause 23  which removed councils'
  unfettered powers in the case of road names and subjects councils to complying
  with the guidelines to be published by order  in council on the recommendation
  of the minister.
He concludes with the request that I ask the minister to note:
  I suggest that it is most important that undertakings  be  obtained  from  the
  government  to ensure that local government is not fettered in its road naming
  activities and have asked the minister for such an undertaking.
I ask the minister  to clarify the position and give that undertaking to the MAV
-- that is, that its role of naming streets and roads and passing the 

 Page 471


recommendations  to the present  Place Names Committee  will  not be compromised
because of  this  legislation. Bills  do  not always contain  information; local
government  does  not  have  the  guidelines  which  are  crucial  for  a proper
understanding of the bill.
Clause  12  establishes  the  Geographic Place Names  Advisory  Committee  whose
members will be  appointed  by the  minister  from people with  the  appropriate
background expertise, described in the second-reading speech as being drawn: 
  ... from the fields of mapping/geography, land information data management and
  service  provision,   local  government,  Aboriginal  culture  and   language,
  orthography and linguistics, and heritage and history.
Those qualifications  and  expertise  are  similar  to  the  qualifications  and
expertise of members of the existing Place Names Committee.

Somebody with local government expertise could be the same person  nominated for
appointment  to  the present board  by  the  MAV.  However,  a  person  may  not
necessarily be somebody  who  that body would approve of or find represented its
interests  or  reported to  it on  what is  happening. That  person may  not  be
appointed as a representative of the MAV's interests. His  or her  skills may be
similar but his or her views could be different.
The  new committee  will be  a  more  centralist  body and  its members  will be
appointed  by  the  minister  rather than be appointed by and to  represent  the
present various interested bodies.
According to the second-reading  speech, the bill gives  the minister a 'clearer
power' to 'name places that are of  a  special  character  or significance'. The
bill says anything  can  be referred  to  the committee. In  the  second-reading
speech the minister states:

  The panel will be convened as required to comment and advise on the  naming of
  places or features which cross local or regional boundaries ...
The minister talks about not getting  a  clear  opinion  from a local government
body or when a place has a special character or has an affiliation  with a wider
group of Victorians. However, none of that is in the bill. Such provisions could
have  been  included  instead of giving a blanket authority to the  minister  to
refer anything to the  committee. The minister could decide, for example, that a
local  road  has some significance.  The bill gives widespread  authority to the
minister to  name things; the  minister's  authority depends on  the guidelines,
which  are  not  included  in  the  bill,  and the guidelines will ultimately be
decided by the minister. Those guidelines will not be scrutinised by Parliament.
The  second aspect of the bill concerns the  registration  of  place  names.  It
establishes the position of Registrar of Geographic Names.

The registrar  will maintain  a register.  His or her functions are  set out  in
clauses 8 and 11  --  namely, to keep  and  maintain a register, to  advise  the
minister  on  the guidelines, to  disseminate information on  the guidelines, to
monitor and review compliance with  the  guidelines,  and  to enter new names or
amended names whether they be from local government, an  individual  or from the
Geographic Place Names Advisory Committee.
The  register must  be kept up-to-date. I am advised that the information on the
register will be  placed on the Internet  as  soon as possible so  it  is widely
accessible to  those interested in  it. The  state digital  map base  will be  a
fundamental  tool. It, too, must  be kept up-to-date, be  accurate and available
for those who need the information.
The bill makes major changes to an important role.

The opposition is concerned about  the  questions raised for the minister by the
MAV. I hope the minister will address those concerns.