ABORIGINAL CULTURAL HERITAGE BILL 2021 — A WAY
FORWARD REPORT
1067. Hon Dr BRAD PETTITT to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs:
I refer to the Aboriginal Cultural
Heritage Bill 2021.
(1) Were any
revisions made to the 2021 bill following the release of A way forward:
Final report into the destruction of Indigenous heritage sites at Juukan Gorge
on Monday, 18 October in federal Parliament, and prior to its introduction in
the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, 17 November; and, if not, why not?
(2) Does the 2021
bill incorporate all the minimum standards listed for state and territory
heritage protections in 7.79 and 7.80 of recommendation 3 in the A way
forward report; and, if not, why not?
Hon
STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1) The
Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Bill 2021 addresses the gross deficiencies of the
Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 that failed to prevent the Juukan tragedy. It
provides a number of mechanisms that will provide better protection for
Aboriginal cultural heritage once it becomes law.
(2) The bill strongly aligns with
the standards set out in the A way forward report.