Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act: WA farm lobby groups welcome repeal of ‘disastrous’ legislation

WA’s “disastrous” updated Aboriginal cultural heritage laws will be officially repealed next month, ending nearly three months of “limbo” for the State’s farmers and pastoralists. A Bill scrapping the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2021 and making a series of amendments to the 50-year-old regime that will instead remain in force passed the Legislative Council on October 17. WA’s peak farm lobby groups have welcomed the move, with WAFarmers chief executive Trevor Whittington labelling it a “good outcome”. “We’re very pleased it’s been passed. Freehold property holders have been living in limbo since July 1 (when the new Act came into force),” he said. “Certainly, the Government has listened . . . and we can carry on as we have done, as farmers, protecting heritage as sites are identified.” Premier Roger Cook was forced to bin the new laws on August 8 after an outpouring of anger from impacted stakeholders, particularly farmers and pastoralists struggling to understand the complex and onerous new requirements placed on their properties. The 2021 Act captured every property larger than 1100sqm, requiring even residential owners to ensure there was no Aboriginal heritage present on their land before undertaking major redevelopment. When announcing the updated laws were being abandoned, Mr Cook apologised to West Australians for the “stress, confusion and division” the Bill had caused while admitting the laws “went too far”. He also unveiled a series of amendments to the existing 1972 Act, headlined by allowing traditional owner groups to appeal approvals to damage cultural heritage granted through the longstanding Section 18 process that cleared the way for Rio Tinto to legally blast Juukan Gorge in 2020. Landowners that discover new Aboriginal heritage after obtaining a Section 18 approval will be legally required to notify the Government. Gag orders stopping Aboriginal groups that have signed agreements with a project proponent from raising future heritage concerns will also be outlawed. Mr Cook said the repeal Bill would be proclaimed — which officially brings it into effect — in “around about mid-November”. “We want to get on and implement these laws as quickly as possible to make sure that we can bring in a new regime,” the Premier said. “A regime that works with Aboriginal people so that they can improve their oversight of Aboriginal cultural heritage, can be more involved in the discovery and the protection of Aboriginal cultural heritage, and works with industry to make sure that Aboriginal cultural heritage is managed in an appropriate way.” The backflip was first announced on the same day hundreds of farmers and pastoralists massed at Parliament House to protest the new laws. Mr Whittington said the changes made the old legislation “workable”, unlike the 2021 Act, which put the onus on landholders to ensure heritage sites were identified and protected — at their own expense. “The Government’s committed to funding heritage surveys . . . about $80 million over the next decade to identify high priority sites,” he said. “We’d like to see more detail on that because a lot of those sites exist on private land . . . but it’s a good outcome all around, and credit to the Premier for stepping in.” PGA president Tony Seabrook described the doomed legislation as “disastrous” and called on Mr Cook to assent the repeal Bill “as a matter of urgency”. “We’ve scrutinised this thing, as has the Liberal Party, and if the intent of the Government is honest and open, we’re good,” he said. “You can bury things in any piece of legislation that can turn around and bite you at some point in the future . . . but on the face of it, I think we’ve probably come out of this a whole lot better than the old Act was ever going to be.” Shadow planning minister Neil Thomson said the repeal was a “victory for people-power and common sense”. Aboriginal Affairs Minister Tony Buti said his aim was to implement the updated 1972 Act “as soon as practically possible”.