Victorian Planning Minister Richard Wynne has a potent message for local councils who ignore and neglect heritage: they do so at their peril.
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Speaking at the announcement of a $3 million grant for the upgrade and conservation of Her Majesty’s Theatre, the minister said it was patently clear that tourism was a quantifiable benefit to regional Victoria, and councils who rejected the chance to invest in their heritage were losing millions of dollars in local and international tourism.
“My message to local government is to learn the lessons that Ballarat has learnt: they’ve captured their heritage, nourished their heritage – not only for the benefit of the people of Ballarat… it’s obviously of regional significance as well; very important in terms of inbound tourism and of course jobs,” said Mr Wynne.
“There is no doubt that tourism is quantifiable; we know that particularly from the visitation of people to regional Victoria. Many people are coming from Victoria and interstate, but more importantly international tourists as well. When you market yourself in a way that speaks to the opportunity to see living heritage… people actually want to come and see what made Victoria great.”
The grant for Her Majesty’s is part of the Victorian Government’s Budget allocation of $30 million for the restoration of Victoria’s heritage buildings. The minister noted that $7 million of that allocation was for competitive grants for restoration projects.
“There are opportunities for councils and community groups to put forward proposals for consideration,” he said.
Mr Wynne has gave in-principle support to a Regional Development Victoria proposal to nominate the entire Goldfields region for World Heritage listing.
“It’s a fantastic initiative… It’s a very, very significant history right through the region from Bendigo to Ballarat and some of the smaller townships around it as well. I think it is a worthy candidate for consideration.”