Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of coalition senators, I will also make a brief contribution in regard to this particular inquiry of the Senate Environment and Communications References Committee. I'm not normally a member of the committee, but, given the significance of the issue to Western Australia and the Burrup Peninsula, on this occasion I thought I would make myself available.

People will see a couple of things in this report that are worthy of attention. The first is the undisputed nature of a number of elements of the report. The coalition, the Greens and Labor agree on a number of undisputed things. The primary issue there is the very real historical and cultural significance of this particular part of Australian heritage, of Indigenous heritage, and the very special place that this rock art has. That is undisputed. For the record, I will quote into the Hansard what the Senate report says. It makes three particular points. In paragraph 7.4, it says:

The Australian Heritage Council reported in 2011 that the rock art collection represents a masterpiece of human creative genius and is one of the most exciting and significant collections of rock engravings in the world.

That is not disputed by anyone on the committee. Paragraph 7.5 goes on to say:

The committee recognises and acknowledges the vast cultural and historical values of the rock art of the Burrup Peninsula and is of the view that it is critical that the petroglyphs should be protected and conserved for current and future generations.

That is undisputed. Finally, paragraph 7.6 says:

The committee acknowledges the substantial amount of work contained in this report and the information and opinions it contains.

It goes on to say:

Senators have reached differing views on the issues presented and these will be outlined in additional comments. The committee thanks all those who participated in this inquiry.

There are two elements of dispute. Recognising that we are all in agreement on the significant Indigenous cultural value of this particular area and of this particular rock art to not just Australia and Australia's Indigenous people but, I would argue, the history of mankind—as Senator Dodson has remarked, the image of the facial expression is truly remarkable—for our part, coalition senators have focused their contribution on a number of things, particularly the importance of the economic development of the Burrup Peninsula. It is hard to imagine the state of Western Australia in its current form without all the prosperity that's been enjoyed by Western Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous people as a result of the tremendous amount of economic development in the Burrup Peninsula. That's the first point.

The second point about the committee report is that we made some comments in regards to what we argue is the lack of credible evidence of adverse impacts of emissions on rock art. I'll come to that in a second. We also make some comments in regard to the report by Professor John Black, and that of Mr Rob Gillett. We go on to talk about the adequacy of the existing regulatory approvals and compliance framework. We talk about best practice in monitoring the cultural and heritage value protections, and—if I could be so bold, Senator Dodson, I think this might be what you were alluding to but without specifically referencing them by name, while we do reference them—the conduct of the Friends of Australian Rock Art and the Bob Brown Foundation.

I won't take up too much of the Senate's time, but where the Senate committee is in dispute is around two things. I agree with you, Senator Dodson; the interests of the Murujuga people in regards to the issue of World Heritage listing and the appropriate recognition of this rock art are central. I would argue that, when this inquiry began, that was not of interest to some senators on this committee. That is an area where there must be much greater work and effort because—to use Senator Dodson's words—if we are to give much greater community control and allow for proper, free, prior and informed consent, it may well be that local Indigenous people have their own ideas about the suitability of World Heritage listing of this area. I'd go so far as to say that the interests of the local Indigenous community were initially absent from the committee's consideration or examination of the rock art issue.