Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act: WA Government schedules more workshops amid ongoing confusion

Fourteen additional “education workshops” on the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act have been scheduled across regional WA as the State Government scrambles to demystify the contentious new laws. The workshops will be held throughout July and August at Kalgoorlie, Manjimup, Mt Magnet, Meekatharra, Waroona, Carnamah, Albany, Busselton, Carnarvon, Lake Grace, Dalwallinu, Geraldton, Port Hedland and Fitzroy Crossing. It comes after a series of public information sessions were held in June and July as farmers and pastoralists struggled to wrap their heads around the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act. The Act, which came into effect on July 1, has drawn widespread criticism from Aboriginal corporations, local governments and the Opposition, as well as the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of WA and WAFarmers. PGA president Tony Seabrook — who started a Parliamentary petition calling for a six-month delay to the Act’s start that obtained nearly 30,000 signatures — was unaware of the new workshops when Countryman spoke with him on Thursday. “Quite simply, they (the Government) are absolutely floundering,” he said. “It’s been ineptly handled since day one.” WAFarmers president John Hassell said he only found out about the new workshops via social media, adding that they could have been better advertised. Mr Hassell noted several were being held in the same towns where workshops had previously been held — including Geraldton, Port Hedland, Kalgoorlie, Albany and Carnarvon. “It really does say a lot about the Act, I think,” he said. “I think that kind of belies the fact that there’s a lot of community dissent over the bloody thing.” Mr Seabrook — who farms at York — renewed calls for the Act to be scrapped altogether and for the Government to return to the drawing board. “This legislation should never, ever have seen the light of day in its current form,” he said. “It was dreamed up by a bunch of naive people who’ve got no concept of what this piece of legislation actually means for people like myself on the ground, and now they try to flog it.” A spokeswoman for the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage told Countryman additional workshops could follow “on a needs basis, particularly where the department hasn’t had a presence previously”. “Promotion of the workshops is ongoing and has been advertised through a range of social media platforms, in some local newspapers, and promoted directly to people who previously expressed an interest, and with local community stakeholders,” the spokeswoman said. WORKSHOPS: All workshops run from 10am to 11.30am. Register online via the DPLH website.