Juukan Gorge caves: Rio Tinto inquiry urged not to duplicate laws

Rio Tinto’s biggest iron ore rivals have argued against the unnecessary duplication of federal and state regulations.

Rio Tinto’s biggest iron ore rivals have argued against the unnecessary duplication of federal and state regulations as the industry looks to improve traditional owner heritage laws following the miner’s destruction of the ancient Juukan Gorge caves in Western Australia’s Pilbara.

In submissions to the parliamentary inquiry — which is investigating Rio’s detonation of caves showing traces of human habitation dating back 46,000 years — BHP, Fortescue Metals and Gina Rinehart’s Roy Hill cautioned against new federal legislation covering the same ground.

BHP said a review of “perceived shortcomings” in the state’s Aboriginal Heritage Act, currently being rewritten by the WA government, was the preferred path for improvements by giving traditional owners greater say over cultural heritage matters rather than introducing new federal legislation.

“We believe that Western Australian government’s current process of review and then introduction of new legislation is the preferable way of dealing with those shortcomings, as opposed to the introduction of new federal legislation that is motivated by issues in one jurisdiction but would have application in all jurisdictions,” BHP said in its submission.

“An expansion of federal legislation would likely result in state/territory and federal regulation both covering the same cultural heritage matters. This risks duplicating or fragmenting regulatory processes, approvals and compliance requirements, which would increase the burden on both land users and traditional owners.”

Fortescue also said it was against a double-up between WA and commonwealth governments.

“Fortescue does not support the imposition of additional federal heritage regulation on West Australian resources projects. Our experience is that duplication of federal and state law over the same subject matter does not lead to substantively better outcomes, but does result in increased cost, uncertainty and delay,” Fortescue noted in its submission.

Rio’s decision to destroy the ancient Juukan Gorge caves allowed it to access iron ore worth $US135m, the company’s embattled chief executive JS Jacques revealed on Friday.

The incident has reinvigorated efforts by the WA government to overhaul the Aboriginal Heritage Act that allowed Rio to gain legal approval for the caves’ destruction.

WA Aboriginal Affairs Minister Ben Wyatt told the inquiry that the new regime would be much more vigorous and would give the government the ability to order projects to stop.

Roy Hill also rejected the need for federal government reform of heritage laws.

“There is no need for further commonwealth legislation in the heritage space. The legislation instead needs to be effective, balanced and allow for efficient processes for land-use consent. Roy Hill is hopeful that the repeal and replacement of the current state act will balance these values for the benefit of all Australians to enjoy now and into the future,” Roy Hill said in its submission.

“Any new or amended heritage legislation must also consider and be sensitive to the private land-use agreements that have been entered into by native title parties with miners in order to recognise the self-determination of native title groups.”

Rio confirmed for the first time last week that it had three alternative mine plans for its Brockman 4 iron ore pit that all avoided the Juukan Gorge rock shelters.