Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Hansard source

I support the fact that she put $11 million on the table in May, before the election, to do this work. Can I also say that the work that the member for Leichhardt did in chairing the two inquiries that came out of the Juukan Gorge tragedy was led so successfully by the member for Leichhardt when he described that there are 'serious deficiencies' in cultural heritage laws. He said:

It became apparent to the committee that the legislation designed to protect cultural heritage has in many, many cases directly contributed to the damage and destruction …

He also said:

It is time for the legislative frameworks in Australia, in all Australian jurisdictions, to be modernised to bring meaningful protection to Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage …

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