Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

We welcome the government's response to the recommendations made in A way forward, the final report of the Juukan inquiry, which accepts seven out of eight of the recommendations and commits to working in real partnership with First Nations people—eye to eye and with free, prior and informed consent—in implementing these recommendations.

These reforms would see the introduction of national standalone cultural heritage legislation that is developed with First Nations people and acts as a minimum standard for state and heritage protections. As we know, these are highly inconsistent and are often ineffective or even skewed against protecting our heritage. The government's commitment to free, prior and informed consent is great, but we need to see how this will actually play out in reality. Unfortunately, government doesn't have a history of following the principle of free, prior and informed consent, although it often pretends that it does. We hope that this process can be one of setting an example of how FPIC can be pursued through government. FPIC is a key principle of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and means that First Nations people receive all relevant information to make a decision well beforehand, have the means to consider it properly and can make a self-determined decision, a decision that is not predetermined by government or anyone else and can be made without being pressured one way or another.

The government also commits to reforming native title to address inequalities in negotiating positions that traditional owners face. This is a long overdue reform. Traditional owners need to have the final say on proposals affecting their cultural heritage. That is the essence of free, prior and informed consent, and it includes the right to veto—to say no. Put forward in recommendation 7 of the Juukan inquiry report, these reforms also need to address the role of prescribed body corporates and native title representative bodies. All too often these representative bodies do not represent the views of traditional owners, whose interest they should work in, and make agreements with mining proponents on their land. Going through representative bodies alone is not free, prior and informed consent. These bodies themselves need to comply with the principles of FPIC, and their accountability, governance and transparency mechanisms need to be strengthened.

Besides committing to seven of the eight recommendations, it is disappointing to see that the government has not—at least not yet—accepted the first recommendation of the Juukan inquiry, which is that responsibility for First Nations cultural heritage matters should sit with the minister for Indigenous Australians, instead of the minister for the environment, and the relevant shift of responsible portfolio agencies.

I was on the joint standing committee for the Juukan inquiry, and there is a reason for this recommendation to be the first recommendation of the final report. The government always talks about First Nations justice, while at the heart of First Nations justice lies self-determination. We are talking about the heritage of First Nations people, of the oldest cultures in the world. Country and culture are the essence of who we are, and yet, here, the government does not commit to transfer responsibility for our own cultural heritage to the Minister for Indigenous Australians. It is time for government at all levels to stop clinging onto the old colonial days, to stop making decisions for us, to stop controlling us. The government is talking about a voice to parliament, yet failing to take an overdue and necessary step to move responsibility for First Nations heritage to the Minister for Indigenous Australians, whose portfolio agencies are much better set up to engage with First Nations communities across the country. I hope that eventually your talks with First Nations cultural heritage alliance will conclude in also accepting this recommendation.

I also want to urge you to pursue the reforms you have committed to with urgency. We have no time to waste. Every year, month, week and day we are delaying action risks further cultural heritage being destroyed and part of our culture and our stories being lost. Traditional owners across the country are fighting every day to protect their sacred sites. Every day my office gets calls for assistance. The numbers of applications being sought under section 9 and 10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act are just giving a small insight into how many challenges traditional owners face to protect country and culture everywhere.

The government has given no indication on when these reforms will take place, and this clearly raises concerns that it might not be a priority for the government. We waited over a whole year since these recommendations were handed down before we even got a response, despite Labor being involved in developing these recommendations and endorsing them. How long is it going to take to finally see our heritage being protected?

In the Greens' additional comments to the Juukan report, along with a range of further recommendations based on the evidence of the Juukan inquiry which would further strengthen First Nations cultural heritage outcomes, we ask the government to pursue a treaty or treaties with this country's First Nations peoples. While it is incredibly important that we fix the cultural heritage protection framework in this country, we also need to address the underlying factors which have led to the destruction of so much of our heritage and culture and continue to do so every day. We can only do that through treaty. Treaty is the end to the war and leads the pathway to a better future. Treaty acknowledges First Nations sovereignty, protects First Nations rights and sets out the underlying terms for First Nations people to negotiate with the government moving forward. We need to protect First Nations heritage now, we need to follow self-determination now, and we need a treaty now.

Question agreed to.