Aboriginal cultural heritage law changes to be scrapped after overwhelming pressure on Cook Government
Article by Josh Zimmerman, courtesy of the West Australian.
The controversial overhaul of WA’s Aboriginal heritage laws will be scrapped completely in a stunning development just one month after the changes came into effect.
Facing a wave of anger and anxiety — particularly among the State’s farming community — Premier Roger Cook and Aboriginal Affairs Minister Tony Buti are poised to make the announcement within days.
The West Australian understands major resources companies and Indigenous groups were briefed on the decision on Friday.
It followed days of frantic meetings at the highest levels of Government to address an issue handballed to Mr Cook by the resignation of Mark McGowan that had threatened to swamp his fledgling premiership.
Dealing with the fallout from the heritage laws has divided Cabinet but the consensus ultimately was that the new regime was far too complex and could not be rescued through tweaks to regulations alone.
That left a full repeal of the laws rushed through Parliament in late 2021 as the only option considered suitable, with the State to revert to the 1972 laws the new system sought to replace.
After initially digging in his heels over the legislation, there has been a marked change in rhetoric from the Premier — and his ministers — in recent days.
The Government has spent the past fortnight insisting it was listening to feedback from a cross-sector implementation group representing miners, agricultural groups, property developers and Aboriginal corporations and would “immediately” make any changes deemed appropriate.
Farmers have planned to rally outside Parliament House protesting the new Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act on Tuesday, the day MPs return from the five-week winter recess.
During that time thousands of people have attended information sessions hosted by the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage in locations across WA in an attempt to explain the new obligations.
The new laws introduced a three-tiered approach for ground-disturbing activities and place a far greater onus on landowners to proactively ensure their properties did not contain cultural heritage prior to embarking on development.
Concerns have been raised about the time and cost associated with completing that due diligence process and the narrow scope of exemptions, with the Act capturing any property bigger than 1100sqm.
The rollout of the laws was further hamstrung by the fact regulations explaining the intricate detail were not published until Easter — just three months before they came into effect.
Other key documents explaining how to carry out surveys and investigations were not publicly released until just days before the July 1 implementation date.
Both Opposition Leader Shane Love and Liberal Leader Libby Mettam have already pledged to tear up the updated heritage laws — which replaced 50-year-old legislation — if Labor was removed from power in 2025.
Shock polling by Utting Research placed the Liberals in an election-winning position last month and identified the deeply unpopular heritage laws as one of the key factors driving voters away from Mr Cook’s government.
They also played a prominent role in the Rockingham by-election to replace Mr McGowan, which saw Labor’s primary vote slashed by more than 30 percentage points to its lowest level since 1996.