Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2021: Department happy with opportunity to talk directly with landholders

A State Government department spokesman has moved to reassure the region that when they wake up on Monday things will not have changed all that much. Department of Planning Lands and Heritage assistant director-general of heritage and property services Vaughan Davies made the comments after a three-hour workshop in Albany on Tuesday. The workshop at Retravision stadium saw a crowd of about 300 people in attendance to learn more about the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2021 regulations set to come into effect on Saturday. Mr Davies said he believed the workshop had ticked the right boxes as the goal was to “make sure people leave more informed then when they arrived”. He said it was an opportunity for people to have a direct line to have questions answered about changes from the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 towards the new Act after guidelines were gazetted a month ago. “We had always planned to do education within June and May, and we knew it was going to be tight leading in,” he said. “The regulations were gazetted on May 30 so it would have been hard to educate in a fulsome way any earlier if we hadn’t got all our ducks lined up, so we did have to wait to a certain degree.” He said the workshop four days out from the new Act coming into effect was not the first opportunity the region had had to engage with planned changes and would also not be the last. “We’ve already done hundreds of workshops around the State, but the last time we came to Albany there was probably only six people,” he said. “I think the political debate and the consequent media attention has made a lot more people aware, and the education program will continue into the new financial year as well. “We’ll keep rolling these out for at least the next six months.” Much of the focus of the workshop was geared towards the concerns of those in the agriculture sector, which was represented by a big portion of the crowd. Questions were raised about the notion of like-for-like activities, which means activities that have already been being carried out will be able to continue without legal repercussions for landholders. Mr Davies said the simplest way to explain it was that “if you are undertaking an activity that does not disturb additional ground ... that is a like-for-like activity”. “It’s in recognition that if you’ve been doing things forever just keep doing them,” he said. “There will be a bit of a grey area where we will need to do it case-by-case, and that’s where I’d say if you have any concerns at all ring the DPLH.” He said it was his belief the new Act would not have a big impact on the agriculture sector. “You’ve got disturbed land already, you’ve got local people who have relationships with local Aboriginal people, you’ve really good sentiment from landowners who want to protect Aboriginal cultural heritage,” he said. “Farmers are smart people, if they know there is Aboriginal cultural heritage there they will avoid it.” He said guidelines to follow in the Act had been designed to provide certainty for proponents and landowners. “If you want absolute certainty go and do a survey,” he said. “There is industry standards. “Certain industries like the mining industry wouldn’t do anything without a survey and with other industries these things can be resolved through a relationship and a conversation.” A repeated emphasis throughout the workshop was placed on the fact that Aboringal cultural heritage was already protected under the 1972 Act even if landholders had not been aware if it. Mr Davies said the way the new Act was policed would not be any different and DPLH would “take a pretty pragmatic approach to this”. “It is a reactive compliance, so when we get complaints in that Aboriginal cultural heritage has been harmed we will investigate at that point,” he said. “Where there is absolute harm to Aboriginal cultural heritage and someone has done that blatantly, obviously and with no due diligence in a meaningful way we will come down really hard.” Mr Davies finished by saying “I think we are going to wake up on Monday and see not much has changed”. “DPLH is there and ready, get on the system and have a look and we can answer any questions people might have,” he said.