Question on Notice regarding the Roe 8 highway extension and the Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee's assessment of Aboriginal heritage sites, specifically DAA 3709, North Lake and Bibra Lake.

AnsweredQoN 962Legislative Council
Asked
15 September 2015
Portfolio
Aboriginal Affairs

QuestionView source ↗

ROE
HIGHWAY STAGE 8 — ABORIGINAL CULTURAL MATERIAL COMMITTEE
962. Hon LYNN MacLAREN to the
Minister for Aboriginal Affairs:
I refer to question without notice 922 asked on 9 September
2015.
(1) Who
referred Main Roads Western Australia's section 18 application relating
to the Roe 8 extension to the Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee in June
2015?
(2) Please
list the names of all the sites that were the subject of the section 18
resolution of ACMC's February 2013 meeting.
(3) Which
provision of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 permitted this section 18
application to be referred again to the ACMC in June 2015, 16 months after the
ACMC had already made a decision?
(4) With
reference to the fact that DAA 3709, North Lake and Bibra Lake, is a registered
mythological site, why was an archaeological investigation used to validate
that site?
(5) Given DAA 3709
is a registered mythological site, why was no specialist anthropologist in
attendance at the ACMC's June 2015 meeting?

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the honourable member for some notice of the
question.
(1) The
Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee reconsidered the section 18 application
in June 2015 in light of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs' advice
that new information was available regarding the archaeological heritage
places.
(2) They were
DAA 3296, Hope Road/Swamp Lake; DAA 3709, North Lake and Bibra Lake; and DAA 4107,
Bibra Lake North.
(3) There is
no provision in the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 that prevents this from
occurring. I did not receive the Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee's
February 2013 recommendation as I was constrained from making a decision by
part IV of the Environmental Protection Act 1986. Due to the extended period of
time between when the Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee first considered
the matter in 2013 and new information about archaeological heritage places on
the land, the Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee considered the section 18
application for a second time in June 2015.
(4) The archaeological investigation was not used to validate
DAA 3709, North Lake and Bibra Lake.
(5) DAA 3709
was not assessed by the Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee at its 10 June
2015 meeting.

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