Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the documents.

I welcome the opportunity to take note of this ministerial statement. As the member for Cowper, Mr Conaghan, said on my behalf in the other place on Thursday of last week, it's always been the coalition's view that the events at Juukan Gorge on 24 May 2020 represented, at the very least, a tragic failure on so many levels in the interactions between Rio and the traditional owners. Those events 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. To each of those ends, the coalition fully agrees with many of the elements of the ministerial statement.

I would also like to reiterate comments by the member for Cowper about the importance of the work on these issues by the Joint Select Committee on Northern Australia. That committee's work led to a series of crucial findings and recommendations, and it also led, during the years of the coalition government, to a range of work guided by our then environment minister, Ms Ley, and by the then Indigenous affairs minister, Mr Wyatt. That work was underpinned by funding in the 2021-22 budget that was specifically devoted to developing an engagement process to identify the best options for reform. As we said throughout that time, we always considered it vital that this process be centred on the views and experiences of traditional owners.

We're also pleased that Ms Plibersek's statement now clarifies that the government intends to continue in those directions. On that note I should add that the coalition is comfortable in principle with the government's decision to accept the first seven recommendations of the joint standing committee's 2021 report and to continue to explore the eighth. In saying all of that, though, I think all of us should be concerned about what has come to light in the wake of the statement last Thursday. I'm specifically referring to the multiple subsequent media reports that traditional owners in the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people say they've not been consulted with properly by Minister Plibersek. The PKKP Aboriginal Corporation chairman, Burchell Hayes, has in fact gone as far as saying:

It seems like a media event in Canberra is more important than giving PKKP people the respect of asking us what can be done to try and stop something like the destruction of the Juukan rock shelters happening again …

He also said:

We would have expected the minister would want to meet with us before making a public announcement about our country and cultural heritage.

The government should take note, especially when Ms Plibersek has made such big things of the work that had been done, supposedly, with the traditional owners. It's hard to see how it can be said on the one hand that you're fully committed to, 'full and genuine partnership with First Nations people,' as stated in the booklet on page 5, and also on page 8, where it says:

… the importance of putting First Nations peoples at the heart of decision-making for issues that affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

when it turns out, as it has now been revealed, that there has been no consultation with traditional owners. They're left feeling disrespected and, understandably, very insulted. This is, plainly, unacceptable.

I will add that there are other part of the ministerial statement and the accompanying booklet that leave the coalition with some concerns. Foremost among those is that there is really very little in the way of firm time lines and KPIs for progress. On page 5 of the booklet the wording says that options to reform First Nations' cultural heritage protection will merely be provided for consideration in this term of government. I think Australians deserve and, in fact, have a right to be sceptical about, exactly what this means. It sounds like the wheels of government are now turning very slowly on this, and that any potential and genuine progress might well be a long way away.

More positively, though, I do want to acknowledge that the ministerial statement says:

These reforms are not about stopping development, or halting progress.

Industry, and the resources sector in particular, plainly need to be consulted closely in the consideration of new laws. Moreover the government does need to honour the point that the overwhelming majority of companies in modern Australia are very committed to environmental protection and conservation. They need to contribute to this process rather than being excluded from it. We urge the government to make sensible and balanced decisions here that align environmental protection with sensible, measured and sustainable economic development.

In the meantime, I want to return to where I began by saying that there is a resounding agreement between the government and the opposition on the overwhelming majority of issues covered by this ministerial statement. I also reiterate the comments of my colleague the member for Cowper in paying tribute to the traditional owners of the Juukan Gorge for their ongoing determination to preserve and honour their beautiful and phenomenal cultural heritage, and in thanking all the many people who have been involved in the past 2½ years in trying to turn an environmental tragedy into a much more positive and inspiring future.