TRADITIONAL OWNERS RESPOND TO STATE GOVERNMENT'S BACKFLIP ON HERITAGE ACT
The Murujuga cultural landscape in the Pilbara region is nominated for World Heritage listing. Credit: Megan Boyce.
BY GERARD MAZZA
First Nations people have had varying responses to the Western Australian government’s decision to overturn the new Aboriginal Heritage Act, after it had been in force for just five weeks.
Premier Roger Cook today formally announced the government would overturn the 2021 Act, and instead reinstall the 1972 Act with some amendments.
"The Juukan Gorge tragedy was a global embarrassment, but our response was wrong, we took it too far, unintentionally causing stress, confusion and division in our community,” he said.
"The complicated regulations, the burden on landowners and the poor rollout of the new laws have been unworkable for all members of our community – and for that, I am sorry.
"The original intent of the legislative change nearly two years ago, was to prevent another Juukan Gorge – and my Government will deliver on that commitment.”
The government announced today it plans to amend the 1972 Act so Traditional Owners have the right to appeal ‘Section 18’ decisions made by the Aboriginal Affairs Minister that allow proponents to impact heritage sites.
Another new requirement will mean proponents will need to alert the government of discoveries of new heritage sites in areas where development has already been approved.
The Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura Aboriginal Corporation (PKKP), the Prescribed Body Corporate for the Native Title holders of the Juukan Gorge site, today released a statement criticising Mr Cook’s announcement.
“The PKKP are outraged that they, and Traditional Owners in Western Australia are back to square one, and the Cook Government is reverting to laws that allowed to destruction of Juukan Gorge,” said PKKP Land and Heritage Manager Dr Jordan Ralph.
“The safeguards that were supposed to be provided by the 2021 legislation have now been taken away and we will revert back to an outdated definition of Aboriginal cultural heritage and an approvals process that benefits industry over our Country.
“This is nothing short of a cluster and again, First Nations people are being treated as second class citizens in their own Country.”
PKKP said it has written to Aboriginal Affairs Minister Tony Butti seeking clarification on a number of issues that have arisen because of the changes.
Nyikina leader and former Kimberley Land Council CEO Wayne Bergmann told Ngaarda Media the government made “the right call” to scrap the legislation.
“It didn’t create the right balance of fairness for dealing with Aboriginal heritage, and it caused an administrative overburden that would have flooded Prescribed Body Corporates, Native Title groups, Land Councils, everyone, to try and comply with the system,” Mr Bergmann said.
“The appeal provisions against Ministers’ decisions I think is a great and a big step forward.
“We still need to work with everyone to find a solution that fits that we all can live with.”
Anthropologist and archaeologist Robin Stevens has worked with Traditional Owner groups throughout Western Australia.
He has been critical of the 2021 Act since it was first proposed in 2020..
Mr Stevens said the 1972 Act was “archaic”, but the 2021 Act was “a mess” that has caused “chaos”.
“There’s been this transition period where Aboriginal organisations, PBCs in particularly, have been told that they had to do things differently, they had to take on more administrative burden, to implement an Act that they themselves didn’t like,” he said.
“They got extremely limited funding, and then just as they’re in that transition … now that’s all been undone, and its unclear now what’s going to happen.
“It’s not good for Aboriginal organisations. It’s a bit of a disaster. But we sort of warned about this early on. We said, ‘Look, this is going to cause chaos.’”
Mr Stevens said he was disappointed concerns raised by First Nations groups in 2021 had been disregarded, but more recent concerns from landowners had been heard.
“After Aboriginal organisations and heritage professionals had said for a long, long time, ‘We’ve got a major problem here,’ they just pushed it through without amendments.
“But farmers, and people who have linked it to the Voice … now [the government is] listening to them. And why are they listening to them? Because they have voting power.”
In announcing the repeal of the Act, Premier Roger Cook said there would be no requirement for everyday landowners to conduct their own heritage surveys.
He said the government would implement a plan over the next ten years to conduct surveys in high-priority, unsurveyed areas, to be centrally held and published by government.