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

He said, and I quote:

Those events—

he's talking about 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 in Australia.

The member for Cowper of course has also been a great supporter of this approach. The member for Cowper said, and I quote:

We are very pleased that the minister—

that's me, in this case—

has now made clear that she will be continuing the work that had already begun in this area during the years of the coalition government.

He said:

… we always considered that it was that this process be centred on the views and the experience of traditional owners.

And, of course, Senator Dean Smith also said, and I quote:

… the Juukan Gorge, which we know to be of such tremendous heritage value to Indigenous people in my home state of Western Australia, people should ask themselves, 'What has changed?'

Can I say, again, that we have no intention of adopting the WA laws—as they were and as they will change. We are the Commonwealth government; we are looking at the Commonwealth laws, and we'll update them according to the process put in place by the former Minister for the Environment.

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