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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 137 asked in the Legislative Council on 22 March 2018 by Hon Robin Chapple

Parliament: 40 Session: 1


WINTAWARI GURUMA ABORIGINAL CORPORATION —MINISTER FOR ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS' COMMENTS
      137. Hon ROBIN CHAPPLE to the minister representing the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs:
I refer to the extraordinary comments made by the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs that were quoted in The West Australian of 15 March.
      (1) Is the minister aware that his public characterisation of the chairman of the Wintawari Guruma Aboriginal Corporation as petulant has been viewed by members of the Aboriginal community as perpetuating a negative stereotype about Aboriginal people?
      (2) Is the minister aware that the Wintawari Guruma Aboriginal Corporation believes that it was misled by the Registrar of Aboriginal Sites during the processing of the Fortescue Metals Group section 18 notice for Solomon phase 6 and that inaccurate advice has been provided to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs regarding this notice?
      (3) Is the minister aware that his public verbal attack and disregard for proper consultation has discouraged some Aboriginal leaders from voicing their criticism about the administration of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972?
      (4) Will the minister issue a public apology to the chairman of the Wintawari Guruma Aboriginal Corporation for his patronising and disrespectful comments?
Hon STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. The following answer has been provided by the minister.
      (1) No. My comments regarding Mr Camille were in response to repeated incorrect and misleading claims by Mr Camille and the Wintawari Guruma Aboriginal Corporation to various media outlets regarding the integrity of the government.
      (2) I am aware that Wintawari Guruma is unhappy with the outcome of the section 18 process. The Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee assessed this section 18 application in July 2017. At that time, the ACMC was satisfied that it had sufficient information to make a recommendation to me as Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and I made a decision based on the advice provided to me by the ACMC.
      (3) No. In my recent announcement of the McGowan government's commitment to amend the Aboriginal Heritage Act, I called on all those who have an interest in Aboriginal heritage to put forward their views on how we improve this legislation. I would again call on all those with constructive feedback to make a submission to the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage. I look forward to receiving feedback from the Wintawari Guruma Aboriginal Corporation.
      (4) No. I hope that Mr Camille will correct some of the factually inaccurate statements he has made to media outlets.