Department of Premier and Cabinet launches secret review into cultural heritage

The Allan government is reviewing the state’s sluggish and expensive Indigenous cultural heritage process, which has been blamed for driving up the cost of new homes.

The Allan government is conducting a secret review into the state’s trouble-plagued cultural heritage process as developers battling delays and soaring costs are forced to increase the price of new homes.

The department of Premier and Cabinet has been holding meetings with developers, cultural heritage advisers, Aboriginal groups and councils to discuss solutions to the state’s sluggish and expensive cultural heritage process which has been blamed for holding up thousands of homes.

As revealed by the Herald Sun in January, Victorian developers are facing delays of up 18 months due to legally mandated Indigenous cultural heritage requirements, with some forced to pass on costs to homebuyers to cover the exorbitant fees.

Some Registered Aboriginal Parties (RAPs), who are responsible for approving cultural heritage management plans, charge more than $1000 per meeting and almost $1500 per representative per day to oversee archaeologists – cultural heritage advisers – undertake salvaging works for Aboriginal artefacts.

In February, Aboriginal land and water rights advocate, Darren Perry, who helped the state government draft the laws, told the Herald Sun cultural heritage had been “hijacked” by individuals who use “standover tactics’’ to extort developers.

Mr Perry has accused some Aboriginal corporations of extorting developers, farmers and the government. Picture: Rob Leeson.

At the time, the Allan government was asked repeatedly whether it would commit to reviewing the laws, but refused to do so.

A spokesman on Monday confirmed the department was undertaking a review into the processes behind Cultural Heritage Management Plans (CHMPs) but was not considering changes to legislation.

Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) CEO Linda Allison said from an “industry wide” perspective it was “taking much longer for cultural heritage management plans to be approved than they did, say, five years ago”.

Ms Allison said the state’s cultural heritage regulations, high taxes and slow planning processes were making some housing projects “unfeasible”.

“The holding costs of the delays can make projects unfeasible, or those costs just inevitably get passed on to the homebuyer, and then that’s making housing less affordable,” she said.

The government investigation comes as the Coalition announced a new plan to fast-track the cultural heritage process at the Victorian Liberal Party State Council on Sunday.

The department of Premier and Cabinet has been holding meetings to discuss solutions to the state’s sluggish and expensive cultural heritage process. Picture: Diego Fedele

Under the plan, Registered Aboriginal Parties’ (RAPs) fees would be capped, time frames for approval would be shortened, and an annual audit of cultural heritage approvals on housing projects would be introduced.

Premier Jacinta Allan on Tuesday accused the Coalition of driving “nasty, racial division”.

She tried to dismiss concerns about cultural heritage, saying the process only affected one per cent of development.

Ms Allison said every new house in greenfield areas across Victoria would be subject to cultural heritage management plan processes, meaning thousands of homes a year.

“When considering the Government’s own targets for new houses in the greenfields, that’s potentially around 24,000 per year (30% of 80,000),” she said. “In addition, CHMP processes can impact any form of new development in greenfield areas – industrial, commercial and so on.”

Opposition planning spokesman James Newbury called out the government for dismissing concerns about cultural heritage while conducting their own behind-the-scenes investigations.

“Despite opposing our plan to cut red tape, which will mean more homes are built sooner, Jacinta Allan has been caught red handed conducting a secret review into the failures of the cultural heritage system,” he said.

A spokesman from the First Peoples Assembly said discussions over cultural heritage were ongoing with the government but that the Coalition had been slow to reach out.

The Herald Sun reached out to the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation – who previously blamed developers for cultural heritage related delays – for comment but the Indigenous body did not respond.