❓ Mr. Love questions the Premier about legal advice underpinning the backflip on the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2021, requesting its tabling. The Premier acknowledges advice was sought but declines to release it, citing privilege.
AnsweredQoN 451Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
ABORIGINAL CULTURAL
HERITAGE ACT — LEGAL ADVICE
451. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Premier:
I refer to the Premier's
backflip on the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2021, which was apparently
underpinned by legal advice his government received from the Solicitor-General.
When was this advice sought; and, in the interests of transparency and public
trust, will the Premier commit to tabling this advice in full?
HERITAGE ACT — LEGAL ADVICE
451. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Premier:
I refer to the Premier's
backflip on the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2021, which was apparently
underpinned by legal advice his government received from the Solicitor-General.
When was this advice sought; and, in the interests of transparency and public
trust, will the Premier commit to tabling this advice in full?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question.
We have been having a conversation with the community over the last five weeks
since the implementation of these laws to understand how they could have been
best implemented, and working hard with the community, industry and other
stakeholders, particularly Aboriginal groups, to understand how we could
implement these laws. As I said, we are now of the view that that is not
possible. In this government, I lead an
amazing team of cabinet ministers. I believe that it is one of the best
cabinets in the state's history. Between them, those ministers
have over 200 years' experience in Parliament.
Ms R. Saffioti : I'm
feeling old!
Mr R.H. COOK : Does that make
the member feel old?
As a team, we worked through the
issues that we were confronting in this. That team included, of course, the Attorney General—the first legal officer
of this state. The Attorney General made his contribution to the debate and sought advice from the Solicitor-General to make sure that what we were doing
was legally sound and appropriate, given the circumstances that we were
confronting. The Solicitor-General provided advice to the Attorney General. In
keeping with the usual traditions and protocols with these things, that advice
is privileged and we will not be sharing it beyond the cabinet.
We have been having a conversation with the community over the last five weeks
since the implementation of these laws to understand how they could have been
best implemented, and working hard with the community, industry and other
stakeholders, particularly Aboriginal groups, to understand how we could
implement these laws. As I said, we are now of the view that that is not
possible. In this government, I lead an
amazing team of cabinet ministers. I believe that it is one of the best
cabinets in the state's history. Between them, those ministers
have over 200 years' experience in Parliament.
Ms R. Saffioti : I'm
feeling old!
Mr R.H. COOK : Does that make
the member feel old?
As a team, we worked through the
issues that we were confronting in this. That team included, of course, the Attorney General—the first legal officer
of this state. The Attorney General made his contribution to the debate and sought advice from the Solicitor-General to make sure that what we were doing
was legally sound and appropriate, given the circumstances that we were
confronting. The Solicitor-General provided advice to the Attorney General. In
keeping with the usual traditions and protocols with these things, that advice
is privileged and we will not be sharing it beyond the cabinet.
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