Victorian Planning Minister Matthew Guy has stopped the destruction of Gough Whitlam's birthplace in the Melbourne suburb of Kew, despite on Wednesday claiming he could not intervene because a demolition order had already been granted by the local council.
Mr Guy on Thursday said he had applied for an interim protection order on the former prime minister's family home in Kew.
"Yesterday I applied for an Interim Protection Order, under the Heritage Act, for the birthplace of Gough Whitlam," Mr Guy said. "I am advised that the Heritage Council has today made an Interim Protection Order."
Mr Guy said Mr Whitlam was "widely acknowledged to be one of the most significant Australian political leaders of the 20th century".
"As his birthplace, it is likely that the cultural significance of this house will become recognised more strongly as time passes," he said.
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Demolition of Ngara, the house in which Whitlam was born, commenced on Tuesday, the day after the former prime minister passed away aged 98.
Ngara house was built in 1915 by Whitlam's grandfather, master builder Edward Maddocks, and
named Ngara after an indigenous word of the Darug people of Sydney that means "to listen, hear and think".
Mr Whitlam, according to legend, was born on the kitchen table. In adult life he would listen to and hear the voices of indigenous Australians, and his thinking would help give rise to the land rights movement.
At least seven properties across Victoria enjoy heritage protection because of a link with a prime minister.
The birthplace of John Curtin in regional Creswick is protected. Even the Grampians holiday house of Malcolm Fraser, the man who would end Whitlam's days as prime minister, enjoys a heritage overlay.
Mr Madden said Mr Guy had the powers to stop the demolition of Ngara.
"Planning ministers have pretty extraordinary powers under the Act," said Mr Madden.
"Given there is a precedent to provide heritage protection to homes associated with prime ministers, that this building is certainly under threat, and the minister has the power, I would say there is a case to hit the pause button on demolition to buy some time. The easiest way to hit the pause button is to grant an interim heritage overlay. Mr Guy has the power to do that."
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