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Parliamentary Questions


Question On Notice No. 1603 asked in the Legislative Council on 28 August 2018 by Hon Robin Chapple

Question Directed to the: Minister for Environment representing the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs
Parliament: 40 Session: 1


Question

Section 16 of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 that enables an application seeking the written authority of the Registrar to remove cultural material from Aboriginal sites and to carry out excavations and laboratory testing of cultural material. The Registrar may only issue a section 16 permit on the advice of the Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee (ACMC). I ask:
(a) will the Minister confirm the long-standing convention of the ACMC is that section 16 applications are considered only when the relevant Aboriginal people are supportive of the application;
(b) on how many occasions has the Registrar issued a written authority under section 16 of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 to remove cultural material from a site for scientific research where the owners of the heritage, the Aboriginal people themselves, have not provided their consent to it;
(c) does the Minister agree that the section 16 authority should only be granted to a mining company where the Aboriginal owners of the heritage agree to cultural material being removed from their sites for scientific research; and
(d) will the Minister confirm that the advisory body, the ACMC, will advise the Registrar not to issue section 16 authority to remove cultural objects and material from Aboriginal sites in instances where the native title holders do not consent to their heritage sites being excavated or having any cultural material being removed from them?

Answered on 9 October 2018

(a) The role of the Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee (ACMC) is to provide advice to the Registrar of Aboriginal sites and therefore it is appropriate that it considers all section 16 applications.

(b) Information of this nature does not exist in a format that allows for a ready response to this question, and providing the answer would involve investigation of individual departmental records from 1972 to 2018. Due to the volume of work this would require, it is not considered a reasonable or appropriate use of government resources to provide this information. If the member has a question concerning a specific written authority under section 16 of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972, the Minister will endeavour to provide an answer.

(c)-(d) Pursuant to section 16 of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972, the Registrar’s authorisation is provided on the advice of the ACMC. The Minister does not have a role in the process. There is no requirement in the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 that the Traditional Owners or native title groups consent to a section 16 authorisation; however, generally speaking, the ACMC considers that there should be agreement and support from the Traditional Owners or native title groups.