Western Australia ditches Aboriginal heritage protection act
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[August 09, 2023]
By Melanie Burton
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Western Australia state has scrapped new
Aboriginal heritage protection laws after just five weeks because of
opposition from landowners.
The decision, denounced by Indigenous groups, comes in the run-up to an
increasingly divisive referendum on whether to give Indigenous people a
greater say over polices that affect them.
THE DECISION
* Western Australia will overturn its 2021 Aboriginal cultural heritage
protection laws, introduced after the destruction of the ancient Juukan
Gorge rock shelters, after opposition from farmers and landowners.
* The Indigenous group whose shelters were legally destroyed by mining
giant Rio Tinto in 2020 said it was outraged by the decision. The rock
shelters had shown human habitation stretching back 46,000 years.
* Resource rich Western Australia produces more than half of the world's
traded iron ore, a steel-making ingredient and Australia's most
lucrative export, and half of the world's lithium.
WHAT DID THE SCRAPPED LAW DO?
* The Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2021 was developed to update 1972
laws that granted Rio Tinto permission to damage the heritage site in a
planning process that denied Aboriginal groups the right of appeal.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Aug/09/images/ads/current/burtonview_sda_FAIR_2023.png)
* The legislation set out a three-tiered approval system and established
administrative bodies to provide Indigenous groups with a greater say
over protection of heritage.
* It also broadened the definition of cultural heritage, afforded
Aboriginal groups the right to request a review of decisions and boosted
fines for damage to up to A$10 million from A$20,000.
* But it also drew criticism from Aboriginal groups because a government
minister retained the final say. It was also deemed by critics as not in
line with U.N. conventions around consent and imposed an unfunded
administrative burden.
* Aboriginal groups and farmers say they were not properly consulted on
the 2021 legislation.
WHY WAS IT REPEALED?
* When the legislation came into force on July 1, farmers, Indigenous
groups and mining explorers all said there was significant uncertainty
over how the complicated, proscriptive new laws would be implemented.
* Farmers staged protests, concerned that extra requirements for
heritage protection would raise costs and impede their work.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Aug/09/images/ads/current/peasley_sda_PROMGRAD_2023.png)
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![](../images/080923PIX/news_i15.jpg)
A protester holds a placard as she
stands outside the venue for a meeting between Australia's Prime
Minister Tony Abbott and forty of the nation's most influential
Indigenous representatives in Sydney, Australia, July 6, 2015.
REUTERS/David Gray/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Jul/22/images/ads/current/rohlfs_lda_072017.png)
HOW IS THIS LINKED TO THE REFERENDUM?
* The decision to scrap the legislation is not linked directly to
the federal government-backed plan to establish an Indigenous
advisory body in parliament through a so-called Voice to Parliament
referendum this year. But it has focussed attention on Indigenous
rights as support falls for the referendum plan.
* Some people have been using anger over what critics see as
over-protective heritage laws to build opposition to the proposal to
give Indigenous people a greater say through the referendum. The
scrapping of Western Australia's heritage law could neutralise some
of that opposition, Indigenous leaders said.
WHAT AMENDMENTS WILL BE MADE?
* Permits to damage or destroy Aboriginal cultural heritage will now
be overseen by a majority Aboriginal administrative body.
* Aboriginal groups will have the same right of review as proponents
in decisions while the state minister will have the final say,
especially if a site or project is deemed to have state
significance.
* When an application to damage or destroy a site is approved, the
owner will have to notify the minister of any new information about
it. The state says this is important to help prevent another Juukan
Gorge.
* Rio Tinto did not raise to its top management or state officials
new objections from Aboriginal elders who had become aware of
impending damage to Juukan Gorge before it was destroyed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Aug/09/images/ads/current/graue_sda_042021.png)
COULD DESTRUCTION HAPPEN AGAIN?
* Aboriginal groups like the National Native Title Council say
destruction could happen again, given that there are significant
heritage sites on private farmland.
* National minimum standards for heritage protection, which the
federal government is set to release next year, are the best way to
prevent another Juukan Gorge, said pension fund Hesta.
(Reporting by Melanie Burton; editing by Robert Birsel)
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