Farmers and pastoralists slam WA’s ‘shambolic’ new cultural heritage laws

Farmers fear their ability to do basic tasks like fencing or deep ripping will become tangled in costly red tape when important new legislation designed to protect WA’s Aboriginal cultural heritage takes effect next month. The Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act was passed through State Parliament in late 2021 in the wake of Rio Tinto’s infamous blasting of Juukan Gorge more than a year earlier. The McGowan Government claims the Act — which replaces the “outdated” Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 — will give Aboriginal people “a much stronger say in managing their cultural heritage”. But farmers are still scrambling to understand the new laws, and are worried they will have to navigate a complicated, lengthy and expensive approvals process to carry out essential jobs. The Act, which encompasses all pastoral and freehold land exceeding 1100m2, regulates and controls any ground disturbance that could be potentially damaging to Aboriginal heritage. This includes activities such as delving, scarifying, deep ripping, drainage, fencing, and construction of animal yards and dams. Penalties for damaging a site of cultural significance range from $25,000 to $1 million for an individual, and $250,000 to $10m for a company. FARMERS HIT BACK WAFarmers president John Hassell slammed the new legislation, labelling it “utter rubbish”. “They’re going to enforce it on us and we’re not going to have much of a say in it, and I think there’s a lot of farmers who are very rightly very angry, as I am,” he said. “There are two highly dangerous things in the Act that are a major worry: one is that you can’t question anybody (on a decision), because that’s supposedly culturally insensitive; and the second is that (any decision) is subject to change. “Somebody else can come along and say, ‘you’ve dug up something culturally sensitive here’, when somebody else had said it’s not. “It’s open to such bad interpretation that it’s going to cause major drama for us. We could be in real trouble.” Under the new Act, farmers will be required to engage — at their own expense — Local Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Services for permission to carry out certain activities, and to undertake surveys where none have been carried out previously. Mr Hassell said he was concerned the new system could be exploited as a “cash cow”. “Why can’t I just have an audit and that be it forever after, instead of having it subject to change, and having to do it every time I want to do something on my farm?,” he said. “This is a methodology for keeping on paying people forever after.” He also accused the WA Government of “carefully designing” the Act as a “political wedge”. “What’s really disturbing about it is that they’ve purposefully designed it so it won’t affect the majority of people; most people won’t care because they’re less than 1100 square metres in their house plot,” Mr Hassell said. “It’s a pretty rotten trick.” Pastoralists and Graziers Association of WA president Tony Seabrook said farmers were outraged. “What farmers are saying to me is, ‘I bought this bloody land, my father cleared it, we’ve been paying rates on it, and now someone from town comes out to my farm and tells me what I can and can’t do?’ You can’t be serious,” he said. Mr Seabrook, who farms at York, said there was no process to appeal decisions and no timeframe or cost limitation on land surveys carried out by LACHS. He added that the consultation process left a lot to be desired. “A lot of pastoralists had an opportunity to comment — even though they’ve been largely ignored — but there’s been very little consultation in the Wheatbelt,” he said. “It’s shambolic.” LEGISLATION ‘RUSHED’ Central Wheatbelt MLA Mia Davies grilled Aboriginal Affairs Minister Tony Buti in Parliament last week, accusing the Government of rushing the Act through Parliament and calling for its July 1 commencement date to be delayed. Mr Buti admitted the Government was still working on guidelines to accompany the Act, and a new IT platform was still under development. “In the rush to meet a self-imposed deadline, the Minister has failed to ensure all stakeholders will be adequately prepared for the changes,” Ms Davies said. “The introduction of this new Act requires more than a quick dash around the State by the Department in the month before it comes into effect.” Ms Davies was referring to a series of education workshops set to be held across WA over the next month, starting in Perth on May 27. “I am also calling for additional education sessions to be added given that many are already at capacity and there’s clearly great demand in the community for information and clarity on these changes,” she said. Challa Station pastoralist Debbie Dowden said she could not sign up for the one session that was held online because it was fully booked. “The nearest one is in Geraldton. I’m not going bloody 400km to listen to some bureaucrat talk about an Act that can’t possibly work,” Ms Dowden said. “We need some guidance on how to best to handle this, and we’re not getting that.” Mr Buti said the Government had held 75 workshops and received 223 submissions since drafting the legislation. “We went to Katanning and only eight people appeared… In Northam, 23 people attended and in Moora, nine attended,” he said. “Those meetings still took place. If people do not come, we cannot be held responsible for that. “There has been a significant opportunity for people to obtain knowledge about the Act and its impact.” INFORMATION WORKSHOPS All workshops run from 10:00am to 1:30pm. Attendees must register online.