In the most brutal attempt yet to block heritage listing of the Flynn Primary School, the ACT Heritage Council has subpoenaed the private membership lists and three years of bank records of two Flynn community groups.
Flynn residents today responded with disbelief and outrage at the conduct of the ACT Government Solicitors in using a tactic like this to try to halt the Supreme Court action between the Flynn groups and the ACT Heritage Council, according to Flynn spokesperson, Shirley Pipitone.
“It is absolutely outrageous that the ACT Heritage Council would act so aggressively towards a community that is working hard to protect known heritage values at Flynn,” Ms Pipitone said.
“As a government agency and one supposedly concerned for heritage, the Heritage Council should be a model litigant. They should actively encourage heritage protection and a fair hearing of our case that is so clearly in the public interest.”
The latest subpoena demanding membership lists for the Flynn Primary School Parents and Citizens Association and the John Flynn Community Group and bank account details going back to 2009 follows closely after an aggressive letter from the ACT Government demanding that the community groups come up with $40,000 security.
“We have very great concerns about handing over private and personal membership details when our members are so worried about what the government might do with those details,” Ms Pipitone said.
Some months into the Supreme Court actions these demands have come suddenly and coincidentally just after news that the Flynn school received further formal recognition on the Australian Institute of Architects’ Register of Significant Twentieth Century Architecture. The absence of Flynn from a 1996 list was used by the ACT Heritage Council as a main defence for not listing Flynn on the ACT Heritage Register.
“It is disgraceful that the government is so blatantly blocking heritage on the one hand while claiming the contrary in glossy brochures, in the media and in public forums last week”.
This is the third time for the Flynn community that the ACT Government has tried to block legal action with demands for a massive security lodgement. During the Supreme Court challenge of school closures in 2007, the Flynn community successfully posted the $50,000 security demanded but was finally blocked by a threat for a further $50,000 to $100,000 in 2009.
“This unreasonable government behaviour is the latest in a long saga of scurrilous actions belittling the Flynn community and our strong attachment to the former Flynn Primary School. We have called on the Legislative Assembly for a full and independent inquiry.”
