Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2021L01869:reg:1992
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2021L01869
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 1992
Character Range: 556385–558657

1992      The Joint Standing Committee on the Parliamentary Zone states that 'as Australia moves towards its 100 years of Federation there could be no more fitting way to commemorate the significance of Federation than by restoring Old Parliament House to remind Australia of the developments that have taken place during those first 100 years'.
          The federal government decides to implement a new single management authority for Old Parliament House within the former Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA).
          As part of the process of transferring the management of Old Parliament House from the Department of Administrative Services to DCITA, a second conservation management plan aimed to clarify the significance of the building is completed. This plan contains six broad policies. No further research is undertaken for this plan and it recommends superficial preservation of 1927–88 building fabric. The Australian Heritage Council states at this time that the question of removing either of the wings is a major matter of contention.
          During this decade of uncertainty, two conservation management plans are prepared for Old Parliament House. This uncertainty of the role and function for the place ultimately leads to uncertainty surrounding the place's heritage values. The first conservation management plan in 1986 advocates the removal of all additions to the building since its opening in 1927. Some activities and building works undertaken during this period are seen to compromise the heritage values irrevocably. These activities/works include the expatriation of furniture, the Members' Dining Room refurbishment, a new commercial kitchen, and the Non-Members Bar refurbishment. (In 1996, the second conservation management plan advocates the retention of the 1988 configuration of Old Parliament House to ensure the full story of the evolution of Provisional Parliament House can be told but recommends that large tracts of the building need only have exterior façades conserved to represent this significance. Building work during this conservation management plan includes the South West Wing asbestos removal and refurbishment and the Parliamentary Library and Lower Library refurbishment.)