Green laws failing indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians have been failed by the nation’s environmental protection laws, a scathing report has found.

Environment Minister Sussan Ley. Picture: AAP

Indigenous Australians have been failed by the nation’s environmental protection laws, a scathing report into the 20-year-old green legislation has found.

Environment Minister Sussan Ley on Monday said protecting Indigenous cultural heritage would be prioritised by the Morrison government after an independent review led by former ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel found protections were inefficient and in need of review.

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 is supposed to recognise the role of Indigenous Australians in conservation, but Professor Samuel used his interim report on the legislation to argue it does not allow for genuine engagement.

“There is a culture of tokenism and symbolism,” the report into the Act says. “Indigenous knowledge or views are not fully valued in decision-making.”

Professor Samuel has called for the creation of an Indigenous Knowledge and Engagement Committee to provide the federal environment minister with advice, declaring the legislation has prioritised the views of Western science.

He argues Australia’s Indigenous cultural heritage laws “need to be reviewed”, with more work required to “support better engagement with Indigenous Australians and to respectfully incorporate traditional knowledge of country in how the environment is managed”.

The interim report, which considered up to 30,000 submissions, argues Indigenous Australians are “entitled to expect, stronger national-level protection of their cultural heritage”.

“The EPBC Act has failed to fulfil its objectives as they relate to Indigenous Australians,” the interim report says. “Indigenous Australians’ traditional knowledge and views are not fully valued in decision-making, and the Act does not meet the aspirations of traditional owners for managing their land.”

Ms Ley said she would work closely with Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt to begin roundtable meetings with state Indigenous and environment ministers.

Indigenous heritage protections came under scrutiny in May after Rio Tinto destroyed a significant site in Western Australia dating back 46,000 years.

Opposition environment spokesman Josh Wilson said the report reinforced Labor’s decision to extend the hand of bipartisanship in establishing a joint parliamentary inquiry into the destruction of the Juukan Gorge.