Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act: Petition to delay legislation makes WA history with nearly 18,000 signatures

An e-petition calling on the Cook Government to delay the introduction of WA’s Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act has amassed more than 18,000 signatures in just nine days, smashing the previous WA record. The petition — which is only open to WA residents — was launched on June 6 by Tony Seabrook, a York farmer and president of the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of WA. It calls for the Act’s July 1 start date to be pushed back at least six months following widespread backlash from farmers and Native Title groups, and amid revelations the infrastructure required to administer the new legislation is not ready. The petition clocked up its 17,890th signature on Thursday afternoon, beating the previous record for a parliamentary e-petition — which took more than six weeks to set — opposing the WA Government’s nine-month demersal fishing ban last September. However, a spokesman for WA Aboriginal Affairs Minister Tony Buti told Countryman this week the Government “has no plans to delay the implementation date”. A subsequent motion put forward by the Opposition on Tuesday requesting a six-month delay was soundly defeated by Labor’s overwhelming numbers in the Legislative Assembly. Mr Seabrook said the Government’s refusal to back down demonstrated “the absolute arrogance of a government beholden to nobody”. “I don’t know what this government is trying to do; they are so far out of step with community expectations,” he told Countryman. Mr Seabrook, who is due to meet with Dr Buti on June 15, said he would raise two key issues with the Minister. “All we’re going to say is: Mr. Buti, you need to hold off the implementation of the legislation, and you need to sit down and do what you said you did, which you didn’t, which is get us involved in a co-design process,” he said. The legislation — which replaces 1972’s Aboriginal Heritage Act — was fast-tracked through Parliament in the last sitting week of 2021 under urgent Bill provisions. Roe MLA Peter Rundle said this gave the Opposition inadequate time to scrutinise the Bill. “Debate got guillotined with 70 clauses to go, and the answer to most of our questions was ‘wait till the regulations are published’, which didn’t happen until the night before Good Friday this year,” Mr Rundle said. Shadow heritage minister Neil Thomson — who sponsored the petition and will present it to Parliament later this month — urged the Government to “take note of the massive response”. “This is a reflection of the massive anxiety in the community about their future and their livelihoods,” Mr Thomson said. “The government has abjectly failed to engage the whole community on such an important issue, which is so complex. “They’re going to fundamentally change the way farming communities, landholders and civil contractors operate.” Under the new laws, farmers and pastoralists must follow a complicated and costly approvals process before carrying out any ground disturbance activity that could potentially cause harm to Aboriginal cultural heritage. Key to this process is the engagement — at the landholder’s cost — of Local Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Services: a new administrative arm tasked with determining whether cultural heritage is present, and assessing whether activities are harmful. But with just a fortnight to go until the Act take effect, no LACHS have yet been established and the IT system underpinning the new approvals process is only due to go live on July 1. “The Act will create a new and unique and untested approvals system for which there is no capacity at this time to seek approvals online,” the petition states. “(This means) businesses, such as pastoralists, farmers, prospectors, and those in civil construction will have to cease all works until approvals, which can only be lodged after 1 July, are then processed and approved or rejected.” With approvals expected to take months, farmers fear the new laws — which apply to all land holdings 1100sqm or larger — will significantly delay simple tasks like fencing and deep ripping on farms and stations across the State. Individuals and companies who fall foul of the legislation face fines of up to $1 million and $10m respectively.