Mr. Ian Lumley:

Senator Cummins correctly highlighted that it is a resource issue. It varies dramatically between different local authorities. In other words, if there is well resourced administration support and professional advice accessible to a local authority in terms of a conservation officer or a consultant conservation architect, it can respond quickly. The answer to the concerns that the Senator raised, and this applies to other arenas of the public administrative process, is that things are done efficiently and expeditiously. We would all agree with that.

Section 57 relates to protected structures. We all have a huge concern about the level of dereliction in towns and villages and, indeed, rural dereliction. There are so many abandoned houses and old mill buildings and such. However, the overwhelming majority of derelict or unutilised buildings are not protected structures. Therefore, protected structure legislation is not a major factor.