Josh Zimmerman, Rebecca Le May and Caitlyn Rintoul courtesy of The West Australian.
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”.
The comments come as the Cook Government battles to contain confusion and anger over the refreshed legislation governing the protection of Aboriginal cultural sites and artefacts which came into effect on July 1.
Recent Utting Research polling found the heritage laws were deeply unpopular with West Australians and partly to blame for the WA Liberals surging to a shock 54-46 two-party preferred lead.
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”.
“What I’m focused on is listening to the industry stakeholders and also listening to others and as I said, if there needs to be change, they will be changed,” Mr Buti said.
“As I’ve always said, they are governed by regulations, the Act is governed by regulations.
“And if the regulations need to be amended or changed to make the system more efficient, they will be.”
As revealed by The West Australian, farming groups have lobbied for any previously developed or disturbed land to be exempted from the Act, removing the 1100sqm limit on residential blocks to qualify for an exemption and for the Government to cover the cost of all heritage surveys.
Asked whether any of those options were under consideration, Mr Buti said: “I’m not ruling anything in or out.”
“But as I said, if changes need to be made, they will be considered and appropriate changes will be made,” he added.
The survey lays bare the disastrous impact of the heritage laws on the Voice.
exclusive
A cross-sector implementation group has been established to provide feedback on the operation of the Act and Mr Buti has previously pledged a review of the laws a year into their operation.
Planning Minister John Carey, who fronted media on Tuesday, insisted the Government was “listening and engaging with key stakeholders on this issue” and that it was a “furphy” farmers were being ignored.
Notably, he did not dismiss farmers’ suggestions the State Government should be paying for heritage surveys or subsidising them.
“Those issues have been raised at the implementation group,” he said.
Upper House MP Darren West told a public meeting of hundreds of farmers in Katanning on Monday organised to discuss both the heritage laws and live export bans that the Government had “botched” the messaging.
Asked why Mr West was the only Labor MP to attend the event, Mr Carey said: “My understanding and I was given advice … it was very late notice to that meeting, but we were still able to send the government rep”.
Liberal Leader Libby Mettam seized on Mr West’s concession to renew calls for the heritage laws to be rewritten.
“Labor hasn’t just botched the messaging — they have botched the entire implementation of the new Aboriginal Cultural Heritage laws which is why they need to scrap these laws and start again,” she said.
“Further, when we first raised concerns with Labor not being ready for the rollout of the laws, Roger Cook’s arrogant response was to accuse the Opposition of dog-whistling and for his backbenchers to call us racist rather than acknowledge there may be a problem.”
Opposition Leader Shane Love said it was “shocking” Labor had elected to push ahead with the implementation of the laws in the face of a 30,000-signature petition calling for a pause.
“The Nationals WA have committed to a rewrite of the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act when elected to government in 2025 because we understand the risk these laws have on West Australians,” he said.
“Any review conducted by Minister Buti will not be accepted by WA because he has shown his incompetence, and Roger Cook must remove him from his Cabinet.”
Addressing Mr McIntyre’s criticisms, Mr Carey said he would “respectfully” suggest the prominent lawyer “should have made a submission to the (five-year consultation) process if he had concerns.”
Mr McIntyre, who was the instructing solicitor in the decades-long High Court case that inserted the legal doctrine of native title into Australian law, told The West Australian the Act placed an unreasonable impost on land owners and local councils.
“This process, if you were being very diligent about it, every time you wanted to turn a shovel of soil, you’d be off seeking an approval or a permit,” he said.
“It’s just not going to work.
“The chance of there being sites of significance when people on farms are putting in a pool or fencing or so on is pretty remote anyway.”
