Mr. Love questions the Premier on the repeal of the Aboriginal Heritage Legislation Amendment and Repeal Bill 2023. The Premier commits to repeal in a timely manner, while accusing the opposition of fearmongering and misinformation.

AnsweredQoN 779Legislative Assembly
Asked
19 October 2023
Portfolio
Premier

QuestionView source ↗

ABORIGINAL HERITAGE
LEGISLATION AMENDMENT AND REPEAL BILL 2023
779. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Premier:
I have a supplementary question.
Will the Premier undertake to ensure that the act is repealed at the very
earliest opportunity?

AnswerView source ↗

I would certainly like that act to
be repealed in a timely manner, but not with undue haste and not in a way that
could ultimately be challenged. We want our laws to be robust and effective,
and that is what we will do. As the member well knows, no landowners or
property owners will be impacted by this transitionary period.
Mr R.S. Love : They're
stuck in limbo still. They can't move forward.
Mr
R.H. COOK : No; they are not. This
is part of the untruths that have been spoken by those on the other side when it comes to this particular law. They seek to raise anxiety and concern and
fear without any semblance of evidence. This is the way they carry on.
From that perspective, it is
obviously disappointing that we have come to the point at which we have to make
appropriate, simple and effective changes to the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972
to make sure that we move forward in a constructive
manner that unites the community and brings people together. We will be doing
that through an effective program of working with Aboriginal groups and
native title representative bodies and prescribed bodies corporate to make sure
that we support them to work with their proponents to understand the impact of
any developments in Aboriginal cultural heritage. We can bring those teams
together in a way that allows them to manage Aboriginal cultural heritage
issues going forward. It will be a program that brings the community together
so that it can work together for great benefits and good outcomes for everyone.
That stands in stark contrast to the negative, fearmongering people that we
have on the other side. It is very disappointing that they bring that sort of
poison into this place. We will continue to make sure that we move forward in a
deliberate, collective and unified way in how we manage Aboriginal cultural
heritage.

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