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

is working out how the states and the Commonwealth can come together so we don't have gaps in cultural heritage protection. There are so many great quotes from the former minister, but I want to share this around a bit, because the member for Leichhardt has done excellent work, with Senator Dodson, on leading those two Juukan Gorge inquiries. The member for Leichhardt has talked about the serious deficiencies in the laws. He said: 'The legislative frameworks in all Australian jurisdictions need to be modernised. Action must be a national priority.'

The shadow environment minister more recently told the other place, just last year, that those events at Juukan Gorge 'were so disastrous that they made it very clear that comprehensive work needed to begin, as a matter of urgency, on modernising Indigenous heritage protection laws'. And I thank the member for Cowper for his bipartisan support for this work: 'We are very pleased that the minister has now made clear that she'—that's me—'will be continuing the work that has already begun.' He talks about 'this vital process'— (Time expired)

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