New Pilot Brings Consideration of Aboriginal Heritage Earlier
HARRY WEBBER, Director Heritage Services | First Peoples – State Relations Group, Department of Premier and Cabinet.
A new Victorian Government supported pilot will benefit developers and land use planners by ensuring the protection and management of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage is considered earlier in the planning process.
The Strategic Aboriginal Heritage Assessments (SAHA) Pilot brings consideration of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage into the strategic planning stage of projects for the first time. This pilot will give developers and land use planners access to a critical risk management tool at the earliest possible stage – streamlining projects once they are underway.
Presently, consideration of Aboriginal cultural heritage occurs at the planning approvals stage through Cultural Heritage Management Plan (CHMP) processes. While this ensures Aboriginal Cultural Heritage is considered before statutory authorisations are granted, it can be too late to change big project plans. This misses the opportunity to make better strategic decisions that provide the kind of protection of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage we all want, with less risk for industry.
By bringing consideration of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage forward to the strategic planning stage of a project, the SAHA Pilot allows Traditional Owners to raise significant Aboriginal Cultural Heritage issues early before land use has been determined. It also gives developers and land use planners a tool for strategic planning.
Three Registered Aboriginal Parties (RAPS), representing the Traditional Owners responsible for managing cultural heritage in their respective areas, are participating in the SAHA Pilot (See Map Below). The aim is to deliver a working framework for everyone later this year.
How will the SAHA Pilot work?
The SAHA Pilot will map Traditional Owner Country, led by three RAPs representing metropolitan, rural and coastal settings. This provides a wide cross section of landscapes and development needs.
Each RAP is responsible for the development of a methodology and an assessment of values across their Country. This will produce maps showing areas likely to contain significant Aboriginal heritage constraints. Importantly, SAHAs are not intended to focus solely on archaeological ‘sites’, but to consider all forms of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage, some of which may be less commonly known to non-Aboriginal people.
The pilot will draw on information from desk-based research as well as consultation with knowledge holders through workshops, interviews and field visits. This will produce detailed reports considering multi-faceted cultural values across Country.
The reports will define significant areas and their cultural values, and rank those values, where appropriate. This will include both tangible and intangible heritage, producing complete values mapping that will enable strategic planners to avoid impacts to sensitive locations, minimise unexpected costs once projects have begun and avoid conflicting priorities.
The SAHA Pilot is focussing on areas already facing development pressures, as well as areas that Traditional Owners are particularly concerned about. This will also help clarify which areas do not contain heritage that might need to be considered when developing land.
Generally, areas mapped for their high importance to Aboriginal people will need additional engagement with Traditional Owners to complete planning work. A consultation program to facilitate this will also be clearly mapped out.
Areas graded as being of lesser importance will have other measures prescribed for developers, depending on the type of development planned. This will offer greater certainty and clarity for all developers and land use planners.
In these ways, the SAHA Pilot will help establish the research and outputs needed to best meet Traditional Owner, land user and industry needs. It will also consider the most appropriate ways to integrate SAHAs into existing policy and legislative frameworks, and any corresponding reforms needed to improve the system.
It is hoped that the SAHA Program can then be extended across Victoria in the coming years, creating better protections for Aboriginal Cultural Heritage and a more streamlined planning process for everyone.
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