The Hodgman majority Liberal Government is committed to reducing red tape and empowering the community to have their say on place names.
Passed the Lower House, our Place Names Bill will replace outdated sections of the Survey Coordination Act 1944 to provide a more contemporary approach to naming places.
The Bill contains a number of new initiatives including the establishment of a Place Names Advisory Panel to replace the existing Nomenclature Board and the establishment of guidelines that will modernise processes.
Local Government will be empowered as the naming authority in their municipal areas, for roads and streets under their responsibility.
The Bill also provides greater community involvement in place naming, inviting community members to nominate through an expression of interest process to join the Place Name Advisory Panel. These community positions will sit alongside other panel members with specialist knowledge and experience in the field and will work together to oversee the implementation of the more efficient place naming processes.
The Bill builds on the extensive stakeholder consultation undertaken in 2016 and 2017 on the options for modernising the naming of places in Tasmania.
This Bill also brings Tasmania in line with other states by establishing a penalty provision to protect Tasmanians. The penalty provision will only be used as a last resort if a person mis-uses a place name with the deliberate intent to mislead or deceive, for example, listing a property for sale as being in one suburb, when it is within the boundaries of another.
The penalty provision will not be used for traditional, colloquial, comedic and Aboriginal names.
This new system provides greater community representation and better protects the public.
More Media Releases from Guy Barnett
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