The Sad Side of Cultural Heritage

BRUCE MCCLURE, General Manager of the CMPA reports on the review of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006.

THE Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 (AHA) commenced on the 28 May 2007 and provides for the protection and management of the state’s Aboriginal heritage with processes linked to the planning system.

The key features of the existing Act are:

• The establishment of a Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council to provide a state-wide voice for Aboriginal people and to advise the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs on issues relating to the management of cultural heritage.
• Introduction and management of a system of Registered Aboriginal Parties that allows for Aboriginal groups with connection to country and others – such as Aboriginal groups with contemporary or historical interests – to be involved in decision making processes around cultural heritage.
• Establishment of Cultural Heritage Management Plans and Cultural Heritage Permit processes to manage activities that may harm Aboriginal cultural heritage.
• A system of cultural heritage agreements to support the development of partnerships around the protection and management of Aboriginal cultural heritage.
• Strengthened provisions relating to enforcement of the Act – including Aboriginal Heritage Protection Declarations and stop orders; and
• Clearer powers for Inspectors and increased fees and charges for breaches of the Act.

The Act also has processes for handling dispute resolution. This includes the review of certain decisions through VCAT.

CMPA members respect the State’s Aboriginal heritage and culture and recognize the need to preserve significant and important sites.

The CMPA has major concerns with the current form of the AHA and its impact on business. Most of the issues relate not to the protection of indigenous artifacts, more so to the actions of those supposedly who are looking after the interests of indigenous people in Victoria. There is now a raft of imposed conditions and requirements that the CMPA feels are beyond what are reasonable.

Extractive industry sites are an integral part of our community. We cannot maintain and build infrastructure for all Victorians, without quarried products. Yet the bureaucracies have steadily increased red tape, and the complexity and the cost of developing business in Victoria – without accountability or scrutiny that should be evident for all.

Government departments have slipped the net of accountability; forgetting that they work on behalf of all Victorians. They need to be accountable for the regulations, the costs and the division they create within the community by their actions.

The CMPA believes that it is degrees of regulation and control that is necessary for any industry, but the regulations and the rules need to be balanced and they need to be fair. You cannot impose conditions or rules that are unrealistic, not achievable or which have a far greater impact on your community than is reasonable.

It is time for the government to recognise there are problems and issues with the current system and that they need to act to fix these so that there is a reasonable outcome for all.

There is an issues and options paper released and now out in the public domain for comment which has been produced following very limited consultation with stakeholders. This options paper will inevitably drive toward a review of the Act.

We do not have any confidence that our fundamental issues and concerns with the Act are going to be addressed by this process. The paper, which was written by departmental staff, does not address fundamental problems that industry has identified. The CMPA will be preparing a submission highlighting members concerns and suggesting solutions – changes to the Act that will result in balance and fair set of regulations.

Only time will tell if the department has really recognised the problems faced by our industry, or has it merely gone through the motions of appearing to be consultative or appearing to be listening and learning.

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