According to the West Australian...
Aboriginal Affairs Minister Tony Buti has opened the door to an overhaul of controversial Indigenous heritage laws, declaring nothing was off the table and ‘if there needs to be change, they will be changed’.
So what changed, before...before the 30,000 signatures & the diabolical Public Education meetings, all was well. It only needed to be implemented & then sort it out. There were no LACHs, no register of "Knowledge holders" and no set list of registered sites.
Legislation with $10 Million fines looming & no protection for anyone who didn't know what was allowable or what the process was.
Things that HAVE TO BE ON THE TABLE
1) Mr Buti has to be removed as minister. Not lose one portfolio & keep others he MUST to go to the back bench. His ministerial career must end ASAP. This is the biggest & the worst legislative debacle of ill preparedness & over reach in living political memory. He cannot touch this or any other ministry.
2) Don't use a smokescreen, do not offer to change the regulations. Scrap the entire Act & start again.
3) Protection of Cultural Sites is important & essential. Define them. Set a cut off date and if they're not registered by then, that's too late. Set the date, make the register & NO Rules, Regulations, Actions, Prosections or Penalties can apply until the list is completed.
4) Whatever is on the list MUST be Cultural, not linked or connected to anything supernatural. Sites with artefacts or human remains are simply accepted by everyone.
HOWEVER anything of a supernatural nature is a Creation Worldview. Many religions have a Creation Worldview & many non Theist Philosophies reject all Religious Dogma that pertain to how earth, life including humans began. No Supernatural element or places linked to mythical creatures can be entered into without landowners consent & even then only for as long as the landowner allows. It must be purely a conscentual agreement between parties with a written contract or...nothing at all if the land owner decides.
Supernatural sites, sneakily hudden under the title "Intangibles" are illegal acts of law that impose a religious worldview upon non believers. We have a seperation of Church & State to stop this, to prevent religious taxes being sneakily brought in.
5) The Act should cover every square metre of WA, no matter the owner. It should apply without fear nor favour & if any residential land is exempt then ALL LAND TITLES WITH A RESIDENCE MUST BE FULLY EXEMPT. No preferences, no favouritism. If there's any exemptions then all in or all out.
6) All fines & fees MUST NOT go to any knowledge holders, LACHs or "inspectors" otherwise they are incentivised to find as many sites as possible & push for an application on each activity on a block of land instead of a once off claim of significance.
7) There must be a minimal application fee where applicable, if it gets beyond the cost of licencing a car, the State Government & the non owner stakeholders can fund the costs.
8) Appeals, there has to be a clear appeals process via the SAT with no cost to the land owners.
9) Inspectors powers must not extend to Search Without Warrant. If there is a crime taking place, then Police know their powers & their limitations. Go for it, but nothing more.
How on earth MPs agreed to this & how on earth the Governor signed off on it to give it Royal Ascent is a Mystery. Hopefully someone will clarify. In any case, the entire Act must go in the bin, it is a Creation Worldview Act of Parliament, one that the WA Parliament has no Authority to pass.
I have spoken with several people from advocacy groups, not all quite get that, but they will in time.
Its not the regulations that Mr Buti should kindly offer to tweak, the entire Act should be suspended & then properly repealed & replaced.
One thing is for sure. Clock is ticking. The longer Mr Buti stays in Cabinet, the longer Roger Cook fiddles his thumbs, plays distractional warfare the worse this gets.
The minister must be sacked from the cabinet. If leading bureaucrats must be identified & demoted, so be it. If anyone suggests the biggest, by far the worst monumental legislative disaster in living memory is just the minister & no one else...well you'd have to be on crack & drunk.
If everything is on the table perhaps we should look at more but those things HAVE TO BE NON STARTER NON NEGOTIABLES
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