Australian Heritage Commission Act.

There is established by section 6 of this Act a Commission by the name of the Australian Heritage Commission. The functions of the Commission include: (a) on its own motion or on the request of the Minister, to give advice to the Minister, on matters relating to the national estate; (b) to encourage public interest in, and understanding of, issues relevant to the national estate; (c) to identify places included in the national estate and to prepare a register of those places in accordance with Part IV ("The Register of the National Estate"); (d) to furnish advice and reports in accordance with Part V ("Protection of the national estate"); (da) subject to Part VA, to administer the National Estate Grants Program, being the program devised for the grant by the Commonwealth, in accordance with that Part, of financial assistance to the States and internal Territories and to approved bodies for expenditure on National Estate projects; and (e) to make arrangements for the administration and control of places included in the national estate that are given or bequeathed to the Commission; and For the purposes of this Act, the national estate consists of those places, being components of the natural environment of Australia or the cultural environment of Australia, that have aesthetic, historic, scientific or social significance or other special value for future generations as well as for the present community.

Amended by: Environmental Reform (Consequential Provisions) Act 1999 (Act No. 92 of 1999). (2010-04-19)