Farm groups claim win over Western Australia’s new Indigenous cultural heritage laws

Resource companies and Indigenous groups have been told the state government will scrap the laws, and a pro-voice campaigner says the move would make ‘a clear pathway’ in WA.

‘Common sense at last,’ said Pastoralists and Graziers’ Association of WA president Tony Seabrook.

West Australian farming groups are claiming a key victory following reports the state government will next week scrap its controversial cultural heritage laws in a major retreat just one month after they were introduced on July 1.

The new WA laws were to apply to properties of more than 1100sq m and introduce a three-tiered system imposing obligations on landholders. Costly cultural assessments would have been required for ground excavation of up to a depth of 0.5m (a tier one activity). Permits and land management plans would have been required for ground ­excavation of up a depth of 1m, which covers tier two and three activities.

Pastoralists and Graziers Association of WA President Tony Seabrook told The Weekend Australian it was a case of “common sense at last” after reports emerged saying the decision to scrap the new laws would be announced next week. Resources companies and Indigenous groups were reportedly briefed on the backdown on Friday.

“This was really starting to stir up racial divisions,” Mr Seabrook said. “It should never have happened.”

On Saturday, Yes23 campaign director Dean Parkin welcomed the reports that the West Australian government would scrap unpopular new Aboriginal cultural heritage laws that had become conflated with the Indigenous voice to parliament.

“From our perspective, it absolutely gives us a clear pathway through from now through to the referendum to be able to focus very closely on that very simple question of recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first because this country through a voice,” Mr Parkin said.

“Unfortunately some of those issues have been caught up a little bit with that debate about cultural heritage in WA.”

The Weekend Australian has spoken to sources who have been briefed by the government on the plan to repeal the legislation, which must still be taken to cabinet. The cabinet meeting is expected to be held as soon as Monday.

One source said the briefings to industry on the decision to back down over the cultural heritage laws had been taking place over recent days and described the retreat from the WA government as a “huge” moment.

The Rockingham byelection on July 29 was seen as a crucial factor behind the reversal after the seat, formerly held by Mark McGowan, saw the Labor primary vote drop by 33 percentage points – a major correction after the former premier received more than 80 per cent of the primary vote at the 2021 poll.

WAFarmers President John Hassell told The Australian that the office of Premier Roger Cook had called him on Friday to arrange a meeting for Monday, one day ahead of a planned protest on Tuesday at state parliament where a delegation of farmers from across the state were going to demand that freehold property rights extinguish any cultural heritage claim.

“I got a call from the Premier’s office to meet first thing Monday,” Mr Hassell said. “But I didn’t want it to detract from the meeting (of farmers) on Tuesday, so I said no. It definitely appears that they are going to (backdown).”

Mr Hassell said the government needed to “get away from this adversarial methodology they were trying to impose on us.”

Nationals Leader David Littleproud said the WA move meant the federal Labor government now needed to explain its own reforms. Picture: NCA NewsWIRE/Tertius Pickard

The Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act entered into force on July 1 and triggered a fierce backlash from farmers, undermining Labor’s support in the state and putting the referendum for a voice to parliament in jeopardy.

Nationals Leader David Littleproud welcomed reports the WA government would abandon the cultural heritage act.

“The changes required cultural surveys for digging a hole more than 50cm, or lifting more than 20kg of dirt, for activities such as mending fences, planting trees or clearing tracks,” he said. “It would cost enormous sums of money for such surveys, with charges between $120 to $160 an hour or $1200 a day, plus travel expenses.”

But Mr Littleproud said the federal Labor government needed to explain the detail on its own planned rollout of a national framework for cultural heritage protections.

“Labor must now explain how the federal reforms will work and rule out forcing property owners to undergo expensive mandatory cultural surveys and undermining private property rights,” he said.

WA backtrack is motivated by the voice, says Opposition legal affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Opposition legal affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash said the WA government had backtracked because it realised the laws were “turning Australians against the voice in the upcoming referendum”.

“There is still a significant risk for farmers and local communities with the Albanese Labor government proposing their own changes to cultural heritage laws at a federal level,’’ Senator Cash said.

“The chaos that was caused in Western Australia is an indication of what could happen if a voice to parliament is enshrined in our Constitution.

“You can scrap a bad law but you can’t change the Constitution once you have altered it,’’ she said.