Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Senator Wong) to a question without notice asked by Senator Cox today relating to federal Aboriginal cultural heritage legislation.

My questions were very clear to Senator Wong and they were in relation to the federal Aboriginal cultural heritage legislation. There has been much debate in this place about what happened in my home state of Western Australia. In fact, I went specifically on my first question to the time line. I wanted to know how long we had to keep kicking the can down the road, because First Nations people in this country are always put into a situation, unfortunately, where they are continuing to have to protect and preserve the cultural heritage that links us to place, to story, to our heritage through the laws that have been built in this country. The whole reason and premise that we have come to this situation is because of what happened at Juukan Gorge—46,000 years old rock shelters blasted by Rio Tinto in the Pilbara region only a couple of years ago.

Now, First Nations people in this country continue to ask the questions: How long do we have to keep waiting? How long will we wait for someone to provide a law to hold people accountable in this country? I want to sketch the time line out to you, just very quickly. The Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Protection Alliance was formed back in 2020, only two months after the Juukan Gorge destruction, by, in fact, the previous government. There have been several reports, several visions and best-practice standards. In fact, there was the Samuel review, which Senator Hanson-Young also mentioned, about the EPBC reform that should be done. There was also the A Way Forward and Never Again reports of the northern Australia inquiry into Juukan Gorge. But that is not it. That is not where it ended.

In fact, there have been 26 years of review of legislation in this country, and all of those reviews have landed saying that Commonwealth laws need to be amended or, in fact, replaced to be effective mechanisms for protection of Aboriginal cultural heritage in this country. In fact, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act was only put in place as a temporary measure. It was to be replaced by a more comprehensive legislation, and that, in fact, was the intention. We were to just put it in place as a temporary measure and then we would move on, do the job and get comprehensive legislation in place.

We are nearly 30 years on and still kicking the can further down the road, which means every single day in this country our Aboriginal cultural heritage is under threat. The whole premise was because, in my home state of Western Australia, the section 18s that allowed industry permission to blast near those rock shelters were insufficient and didn't provide ample regulation to prevent that happening. Juukan Gorge exposed how far-reaching this is. From Nammuldi to Murujuga, from the ancient songlines to the burial sites we see at the Tiwi Islands, from the sacred forests of the Pilliga to the sacred caves in the Great Australian Bight and the home of Senator Barbara Pocock sitting beside me, everywhere mob are fighting for their country against huge companies and governments in this country that are captured by industry. We know that cultural heritage must include free, prior and informed consent. It is part of our commitment to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. But we need to make sure it is enshrined in all of the legislation across this country.

But importantly, if we're going to protect country we have to know what consent looks like and we have to know what we're protecting. That includes intangible and tangible cultural heritage: the stories, the songlines, the things that people cannot see. It is not just landmarks that you can see. The only people that are going to be able to tell you that are First Nations people. We need to start listening, but we also need to start acting. That is the role of this place.

Question agreed to.