WA Govt to scrap new Heritage Act

The Australian reports:

The farming lobby was apoplectic with rage about Aboriginal heritage laws that even traditional owner groups did not like much.

And on Tuesday, the new rules requiring land owners to check for Aboriginal heritage at their own expense were put out of their misery just five weeks after they became law.

The laws were meant to modernise 50-year-old legislation that allowed Rio Tinto to gag traditional owners in the Pilbara from saying anything about the destruction of 46,000-year-old caves at Juukan Gorge. The gag clause was part of a perfectly legal agreement between the mining giant and the Puutu Kunti Kurrama people. The caves were blasted for iron ore with ministerial approval under the old laws.

The WA Liberals and Nationals will not volunteer it, but they actually voted for the new laws. The burning shame of the Juukan Gorge tragedy was front of mind for MPs on all sides as they ushered the legislation through.

But the laws went much further than a tightening up of regulations in the mining sector, which is organised, well-resourced and aware of its obligations. This was, fatally, also an attempt to bring some order to the mess outside mining.

So there was a problem that this new law was meant to solve. What went wrong?

The basic problem was that farmers had to pay to ascertain if any areas of their land they want to do work on, has Aboriginal heritage or value. This resulted in some farmers being told they would have to pay up to $100,000 for a cultural impact assessment, just so they can put a fence up. They revolted.

The Government has now said they will pay for any assessments, which is sensible.