Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act: Mass protest looms over heritage laws

WA’s peak farm lobby groups are urging farmers to rally in their thousands at Parliament House next week to demand an overhaul of the State’s contentious new Aboriginal heritage laws. It comes after WAFarmers held a crisis meeting over the Cook Government’s bungled roll-out of the new legislation, attracting about 500 people from across the State to Katanning on July 24. Several motions were passed calling on the Government to make major changes to the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act, which took effect on July 1. WA Opposition leader Shane Love will table those motions in Parliament on Tuesday, August 8, and has invited WAFarmers representatives to come along. WAFarmers president John Hassell is encouraging as many people as possible to gather outside the building to send a clear message to the Government. “The issue with which we are most concerned is the complete unworkability of the Act and regulations,” he said. “It’s not just farmers, it is pastoralists, land developers, prospectors, and anybody who’s got more than 1100 square metres (of land).” After repeatedly claiming the new laws would not negatively impact farmers — and pointing the finger at the media for whipping up so-called hysteria — the Cook Government appears to have softened its stance in recent days. Premier Roger Cook conceded he was prepared “to make changes” where needed in a clear sign momentum was building for a sweeping overhaul of the Act. And Aboriginal Affairs Minister Tony Buti said he was “not ruling anything in or out” and that “if there needs to be change, (the regulations) will be changed”. But Mr Hassell said their comments had done little to allay farmers’ fears. “WAFarmers, and hopefully up to 10,000 others, will be going to Parliament House next Tuesday to tell the Government we will not be satisfied with platitudes of regulation changes,” he said. “Promises have been made but until the legislation is changed, it’s not changed, and it’s no good playing around with the regulations, because they can be easily changed. “We need some finality and certainty about this.” He said other industry bodies, including the Pastoralists and Graziers Association and the WA Grains Group, were also rallying their members, with the gathering set to start at noon. The motions set to be tabled in Parliament are as follows: 1. That the State Government exempt freehold farmland that has been disturbed, developed or cultivated from needing to undertake further surveys once the property has been surveyed. 2. That the State Government amend the Act to recognise that Intangible Cultural Heritage identified across freehold farmland will not impose restrictions on land usage. 3. That it supports the notion that freehold property rights extinguishes cultural heritage.