Cultural Heritage Management Plans – A User’s Guide

IAN HAMM, Executive Director Aboriginal Affairs Victoria provides an overview of how to deal with Aboriginal heritage issues.

VICTORIA has been a great place to live for many thousands of years. The result of this is physical remnants of earlier lives – Aboriginal places and objects. There are also places of spiritual importance that may appear in legends and stories. All such places are important as a connection for Aboriginal people between the present and the past. For Aboriginal Victorians, such places carry cultural, spiritual, social and political meaning.

For all Victorians, these places tell the story of the State, and provide valuable scientific insights into the way that all of our ancestors used the environment in the past.

These places are oft en fragile and vulnerable to harm from modern industry and development. The Victorian Government in 1972 decided that Aboriginal heritage required legislative protection. That protection continues today.

The Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 states that an Aboriginal place or object cannot be harmed without permission. Permission is granted either through a cultural heritage permit or a cultural heritage management plan. But for many extractive industry activities, a Cultural Heritage Management Plan (CHMP) will be more appropriate than a permit. Let’s have a look at the process.

First, you have to determine if you actually need one. A CHMP will be required if you are planning to do any of the following activities on land identified as an area of cultural heritage sensitivity:

• An activity that requires an Environment Effects Statement (EES)
• An activity that requires an extractive industry work authority under s.77I of the Mineral Resources (Sustainable Development) Act 1990
• Extracting or removing stone (other than sand or sandstone) using machinery that doesn’t require a work authority, but is for the sale or commercial use of the stone or the use of the stone in construction, building, road or manufacturing works and the size of the extraction is more than 2000 sq m.
• Extracting sand or sandstone by machinery that doesn’t require a work authority, except:
  • if that sand or sandstone is from a farm and for non-commercial purposes; or
  • if the sand or sandstone is for or on behalf of DSE for DSE works; or
  • if it is for marine navigational purposes or the establishment or renourishment of a beach; or
  • for a port facility, railway or tunnel; or
  • for the footings or foundations of a building or structure.
• Searching for stone that would cause significant ground disturbance.
• Extracting or removing loose stone from agricultural land on the Victorian Volcanic Plain.

If you are planning any of these activities, check to see if the land where you are planning to work is an area of cultural heritage sensitivity.

Do this by looking at the GeoVic website (htt p://new.dpi.vic.gov.au/earth-resources). Zoom into your land and add the Aboriginal heritage layer to the map.

If a CHMP is needed the next step is to find a cultural heritage advisor to prepare it. Aboriginal Affairs Victoria (AAV) has a list of advisors on its website (see below). We recommend that you obtain at least three quotes. Be as detailed as possible about your proposed activity when asking for a quote.

The cultural heritage advisor will take control of the CHMP process. In order to comply with the Act you must:

• Notify the relevant Registered Aboriginal Party (RAP), if there is one, AAV and affected landowners, in writing, of your intent to prepare a CHMP. Allow 14 days for a response from the RAP. If the RAP doesn’t respond within this time, or declines to evaluate the CHMP, you must notify AAV of the RAP’s decision. AAV will then evaluate the CHMP.
• If there is no RAP, AAV will evaluate the CHMP.
• Before and during the fieldwork, you must make a reasonable effort to consult with the RAP. Your heritage advisor will help with this. Ask questions, get involved, and discuss the project with the advisor and the RAP.
• Make yourself aware of the 3 different types of CHMP (desktop, standard and complex) and when they are required. Each type will have different costs and timelines.
• After the fieldwork, meet with the advisor and the RAP to discuss the recommendations. This is vital as the recommendations are binding. It is important that you are happy with them.
• You must apply to either the RAP or to AAV for approval of the CHMP. You must pay the appropriate evaluation fee to the RAP with this application. Allow 30 days for evaluation.

You will then receive a letter notifying you of the decision. If the CHMP is refused, you can do more work to get it up to standard and resubmit (AAV can help you with this), or you can elect to appeal the decision to VCAT.

Once you have an approved CHMP, you can then obtain your work authority, or commence work. You don’t need to wait for the approved CHMP before applying for other approvals. All other permits, except the final work authority under s.77I of the Mineral Resources (Sustainable Development) Act 1990, can be obtained without an approved CHMP.

The CHMP is your management tool, so use it to your advantage. AAV is there to help at any point.

You can contact AAV on 03 9208 3333 or by email at aboriginal.heritage@dpcd.vic.gov.au. The AAV website is at http://www.aboriginalaff airs.vic.gov.au

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