Wagyl Kaip says ‘things haven’t changed too much’ after Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act implementation

The chief executive of the Aboriginal corporation in line to become the region’s one-stop-shop point of contact for the implementation of the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act has urged people to “speak to the department” about concerns. Wagyl Kaip Southern Noongar Aboriginal Corporation is the native title party for a large swathe of the Great Southern in the South West Native Title Settlement. It is also in line to become the region’s Local Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Service, which will serve as a primary point of contact to establish whether cultural heritage could be affected by proposed activities under the ACHA. Leading up to the ACHA coming into effect at the start of July a range of concerns were raised by landholders including farmers, developers, local government and mining companies over uncertainty it would create. WKSNAC chief executive Lisa Smith said it was understandable for change to make people “a bit anxious they don’t feel that they have been well explained to them”. “But it’s been unlawful to harm Aboriginal Cultural Heritage since 1972, so that aspect is not new,” she said. “It’s unfortunate that the Act is being implemented before the LACHS has been finalised, but in the meantime, we would encourage people to speak to the department about any concerns they have.” It comes after WKSNAC chair Jeanice Krakouer last week said discussions about the ACHA had created “a lot of confusion amongst” the wider community. She said the community had nothing to be fearful of as there were some really positive things that could result from the changes. “Gather as much information as you can,” she said. “What it is doing is dividing our country and dividing our people here in WA. “Australia wasn’t built on that and we need to sit down and respect each other.” During an Albany educational workshop about the ACHA in the last week of June, the community was told native title organisations would be the best point of contact for information about potential cultural heritage until a LACHS was appointed. The workshop, which was organised by the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage, was attended by more than 300 members of the public eager to ask questions about how the new act would affect them. Ms Smith confirmed WKSNAC had received a grant to help it determine what it needed to do operationally to become a LACHS. “Should we be approved as the LACHS we will work hard to build relationships across all sectors, to make it as easy as possible for all of us to meet our responsibilities to protect Noongar Boodja and protect cultural heritage,” she said. Another Albany education workshop has been organised to take place at Retravision Stadium on Friday, August 4. DPLH is urging those interested in attending the workshop, which will run from 10am to 11.30am, to register via its website. “In time we think people will discover that things haven’t changed too much from current processes,” Ms Smith said.