Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Cox. I will do my best to represent Senator Farrell, who's representing Minister King. Obviously, this government takes the matters that you've raised very seriously. We absolutely respect First Nations cultural heritage right across our country, and these are important matters that need to be considered in the context of any proposed resource development, whether it be in the Northern Territory or anywhere else. Senator Cox, you would be aware that the government does have a process underway around the amendments to and reconsideration of cultural heritage legislation. That matter actually is being led by Minister Plibersek, as I understand it. I'm happy to provide you with some further information about where that process is up to, but the point remains that we do need to get to a place in Australia where important cultural heritage sites for our First Nations people are respected.

Obviously, our government does also support resource developments going ahead and other projects that create jobs and produce economic development, including for First Nations communities, but those projects need to proceed in a way that does respect First Nations cultural heritage. A lot of this debate has of course been prompted by the terrible scenes that we saw involving Juukan Gorge, which I think gave all Australians and resource companies some pause for thought about the interaction between those types of developments and projects and First Nations heritage. I'm happy to provide you with some further information on that as it comes to hand.