While stressing he was “100 per cent supportive of the notion of protecting and preserving Aboriginal culture” , Mr van Kann said he felt the regime enacted by the Cook Government was “completely back to front” . “Surely we can protect heritage by the Government researching and publishing any area that is affected rather than saying all areas are until you prove that they are not,” he said.
“We need to make sure Western Australians know that we can educate East Coast politicians, and we can block this in the Senate, (because) it will require legislation under the Act. “That’s why it’s important that we don’t give up, that we don’t just think ‘this is over’
Farmers are worried they could go bankrupt or be sent to jail for falling foul of contentious new Aboriginal cultural heritage laws, a fiery South West community forum has heard. Another issue that emerged as a flashpoint for Waroona landholders at the packed-out Monday town hall meeting is the high cost of commissioning surveys and a 20-fold increase in the maximum penalty for breaking the rules — as well as the additional prospect of jail.
“What I would like to know is why our property rights are being eroded? And I would like to know why, if this is so important to the country or the State, the State Government is not paying?”
“We wake up in the morning and decide if something needs to get done, and then we get it done,” he said. “If we need to build a fence, we build the fence, but this sort of thing could delay us for months even on a simple thing like that. “There wouldn’t be a farmer around here who doesn’t want to see Aboriginal people in the area get ahead, but these rules are the sort of thing made by bureaucrats and environmentalists who have never spent time on the land.” – Jamie Warden, a fifth-generation farmer
Premier Roger Cook is prepared “to make changes where (Aboriginal heritage laws) need to change” in the clearest sign yet momentum is building for an overhaul of the controversial legislation. The statement — delivered by the Premier in Port Hedland on Wednesday — was echoed by Finance Minister Sue Ellery, who said the Government was open to modifying regulations governing the Act “immediately” if major issues were identified. “The minister has come out this week and said if changes need to take place they will take place,” Ms Chappel said. “Well, I think what would be really encouraging is if it’s acknowledged that a change has to take place, that those changes take place sooner rather than later. We don’t want to wait 12 months to go ‘That didn’t work’. “Let’s change it now. Let’s acknowledge that some of these things may not be working as they should and change them immediately.”
“Job number one for Premier Cook is to fix Western Australia’s worst-in-the-nation worker shortage levels, which is stifling business performance and punishing customers,” Mr Davidson said. “We are calling on Premier Cook to lead the charge in National Cabinet to have discriminatory tax and red tape barriers that are preventing our pensioners, veterans, and students removed to alleviate this crisis and he deserves bipartisan support,” said Mr Davidson. “Removing unfair barriers on pensioners, veterans, and students is a no-regrets policy which will get more Australians who want to into work, more money into local economies, while increasing tax revenue, and providing a critical source of dignity and self-esteem to our most experienced Australians,” said Mr Davidson.
Aboriginal Affairs Minister Tony Buti has opened the door to a major overhaul of controversial Indigenous heritage laws, declaring nothing was off the table and “if there needs to be change, they will be changed”. Criticism of the new regime has come from all quarters, including leading Mabo case lawyer Greg McIntyre who on Monday described the laws as “unworkable” and in need of significant improvements. Responding to those comments, Mr Buti said Mr McIntyre was entitled to “have his own opinion” but that as minister his focus was on “ensuring (the heritage laws) operate in the best possible way”.
Describing the laws as fundamentally flawed, Mr Love said he believed the new regime risked pushing up the price of land and delaying subdivisions in the midst of a housing crisis, as well as choking small businesses in red tape.
Fourteen more “education workshops” on the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act have been scheduled across regional WA as the State Government scrambles to demystify the contentious new laws. It comes after a series of public information sessions were held in June and July as farmers and pastoralists struggled to wrap their heads around the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act.The Act, which came into effect on July 1, has drawn widespread criticism from Aboriginal corporations, local governments and the Opposition, as well as the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of WA and WAFarmers.
DPLH assistant director general of heritage and property services Vaughan Davies delivered the information session for the residents, as state Labor members Darren West and Jessica Shaw helped to answer questions and moderate the discussion. Gidgegannup Progress Association Chairperson Sally Block said the presentation was badly prepared and should had been delivered before the new Act came into place. She said the Perth Hills region had many known Aboriginal cultural heritage sites such as Wooroloo Brook or the Avon and Swan rivers, and many landowners had those sites or tributaries going through their property. “This is going to affect them, and people are concerned about this,” she said.
It was like a scene from a Fellini movie. The setting is a bleak modernist concrete and bitumen tangle intruding into an ancient landscape. The principal characters are a gaggle of self-satisfied politicians performing a ritual with hardly an elector (certainly not a non-Labor one) in sight. But now Fellini strikes. Two men are arguing about their conflicting rights to the once-tribal land on which a freeway behind them has been built. And, watching, one old school news reporter who’s been around long enough to understand the significance of what’s unfolding before him.
Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt has become the latest Albanese Government Cabinet Minister to distance himself from WA’s contentious Aboriginal heritage laws. In Perth for a meeting of State and Territory agriculture ministers, Mr Watt called time on his press conference on Wednesday amid a flurry of questions about the refreshed Act. The new regime has caused particular angst and confusion among growers and primary producers who in some cases are now required to consult more closely with local knowledge holders prior to making major changes to or additions to their properties.
