Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act: Roger Cook playing dangerous game dismissing opinions of 29,000 West Aussies

In the online world, it seems there are more opinions than people. Trawl any social media website, and the comments, views and “reckons” tally in the billions — and they are easy to dismiss. As it was easy for Premier Roger Cook, who said on Tuesday the more than 29,000 Western Australians who had put their name to a plea on the Parliament of WA’s website to delay the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act had “just signed an e-petition”. Once upon a time, to sign a petition, those willing to put a name to a position would have to hunt down a piece of paper and hand sign it, with their full name and address. Such was the case in 1979 when 99,000 Western Australians signed a petition in opposition to the-then state government’s decision to close the Perth to Fremantle rail line. The petition set to be tabled today is one of the largest since then. Both State and Federal parliaments have shifted their petitioning services to their own websites. Instead of MPs carrying reams of paper around, and parliamentary staff sifting through illegible hand-writing to verify those who signed the petition were legitimate, the website offers an easier way for Parliament to hear the views of the public. Signatories still have to provide the same details — name, street address and contact details, and those details are still ruthlessly checked by parliamentary staff. Make no mistake, this is not a Change.org petition, or a political party ploy to snag your data. This is a legitimate function of the Parliament, somewhere the people’s voice should matter. Cook should be careful not to so casually dismiss more than 29,000 Western Australian voices raising concerns about the Act. Landslide majorities do not last forever.