This 26 January 2022 will see us acknowledging an iconic moment in the struggle for justice for Aboriginal people, the 50 Year anniversary of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra, Ngambri-Ngunnawal Country. Aboriginal people erected the Tent Embassy directly in front of Old Parliament House in 1972 in Canberra to protest against a court decision over mining operations on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land. Many struggles and battles later, as the longest continually run protest site in the world, the Embassy has become a heritage-listed landmark for Aboriginal protest, still relevant today as it was back then. Over the years, the people manning the embassy, and the location has changed, and at times so too have the concerns being focused on, but at its core has always been...

Days after introducing new heritage laws against the wishes of Aboriginal people, WA Aboriginal Affairs Minister Stephen Dawson has been stripped of this portfolio in a cabinet reshuffle, with the remaining question ‘why so suddenly?’ “The fleeting impermanence of ministerial appoints show the stark contrast of experiences and laws,” says Kado Muir, Western Australia Ngalia Cultural and Community Leader and Chairman of National Native Title Council. “We the Aboriginal people are left with an intergenerational burden of bad laws, while the minister representing the settler state rides off into the unknown and into obscurity.” Mr Muir believes there needs to be a new relationship between Aboriginal people and the settler society, that takes into account First Nations laws are ancient and enduring. “In contrast whitefella laws come and...

National Native Title Council (NNTC) openly condemns the new Cultural Heritage Act bill passed in WA Government legislation today, stating the bill was not co-designed with Traditional Owners, as required by national best practice standards and recommended by the Juukan George inquiry. Gundjitmara Djabwurrung man and CEO of NNTC Jamie Lowe says “As we have stated repeatedly, the bill does not make Traditional Owners the decision makers in the protection and management of their cultural heritage.” “If you want to change a history of heritage destruction to a future of heritage protection, Aboriginal people must have an independent right of review for ministerial decisions, with genuine power to make decisions about heritage sites.” states Mr Lowe. The NNTC notes a permit system still remains in place for some...

 The Morrison Government today announced an historic partnership with the First Nations Heritage Protection Alliance to strengthen safeguards for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage. Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley and Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt AM said the new partnership ensured Indigenous Australians would be at the centre of Indigenous Heritage planning. “The First Nationals Heritage Protection Alliance partnership will develop options to improve the laws, policies and processes that promote and protect our unique indigenous heritage,” Minister Ley said. “Key to achieving success, will be engagement with states and territories, indigenous Australians, industry and local communities to lift the standard of Indigenous cultural heritage protection. “Indigenous Heritage Protection remains an all too complex interaction of state, territory and commonwealth law and it needs to...

Early September this year, Kado Muir, Slim Parker, Dr Anne Poelina, Clayton Lewis and Dr Hannah McGlade, five eminent Western Australian Traditional Owners, lodged an Early Warning and Urgent Request to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, to push for an intervention in regards to WA Government’s draft Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Bill 2020. The WA Government has ignored Traditional Owner requests to halt the introduction of the Bill, yet they are today tabling it in the WA Parliament. Kado Muir has cited this action as “a breach of human rights by the Western Australian Government”. “Stephen Dawson Minister for Aboriginal Affairs is intent on proceeding with a Bill that fails to reflect minimal human right standards which would ensure Aboriginal peoples in WA are...

Following the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR) with the support of National Native Title Council (NNTC) and Western Australian Aboriginal Heritage Alliance co-filing a shareholder resolution at the Fortescue Metals Group Limited AGM, shareholders demonstrated a clear message of support to improve Western Australian Cultural Heritage Protection Laws in Sydney on 9 November 2021. The resolution called on Fortescue to back a pause in the bill’s development and for the state to enter talks with Aboriginal groups to come up with new rules together. 15.6% of shareholders voted in support of the resolution, which is equivalent to approximately 23.2% of the shares not held by Forrest entities, holding about 37% of the company. In the mining and cultural heritage protection framework, the destruction of the Juukan Gorge...

For world leaders heading to Glasgow for the November Climate Summit (GOP26) it has been described as the ‘last chance to save the planet’. For Australia, utilising 40,000 plus years of continuous Caring for Country, its First Nations people can offer a competitive advantage. First Nations hold native title or land rights over 49% of the land mass of Australia, and 60% of northern Australia. This covers some of the best land in the world for industrial-scale wind and solar farms, where the majority of these developments are being proposed. First Nations also contribute to carbon reduction through ‘cool-burning’ cultural practices and sequestration by sustainable land management. Over time, the Indigenous estate will potentially increase to 65% – an estate that has been held since time immemorial. The...

Date: Saturday, 23 October 2021 Time: 9am – 12:30pm – please arrive by 9.00am for the 9.30am start. Place:  Commences Victoria Gardens, Royal Street, Perth (walk ends near Optus Stadium, where speeches will take place) Whadjuk Noongar Country will play host to the “Walk for Cultural Heritage” on this Saturday 23 October from 9am. A partnership between Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation, South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council, Native Title Services Goldfields and National Native Title Council – the Walk is set to show opposition to the proposed Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Bill 2021 and show support for the highest possible protection of Australia’s unique and globally recognised cultural heritage. The Walk is set to begin at Victoria Gardens in East Perth at 9am, where walkers will cross Matagarup...

The National Native Title Council (NNTC) welcomes the extensive recommendations made in ‘A Way Forward – Final Report Into the destruction of Indigenous heritage sites at Juukan Gorge’ from the Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia, as tabled today in Commonwealth Parliament, calling for the Commonwealth to legislate a new framework for Indigenous Cultural Heritage legislation co-designed with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People. That legislation would then set out the minimum standards for state and territory protections consistent with international law. The NNTC notes that under international law, it is the Commonwealth’s responsibility to legislate to protect Indigenous heritage.  The Commonwealth’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 was declared “virtually moribund” by the Committee in their Interim Report “Never Again in December 2020. Its...

A landmark business and investor initiative has been launched – bringing together First Nations, business and investor communities – focused on strengthening Australia’s First People’s heritage laws and standards for the private sector to uphold the human rights of First Peoples​​. Led by the First Nations Heritage Protection Alliance in partnership with the Global Compact Network Australia (GCNA), and the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA), the Dhawura Ngilan Business and Investor Initiative sees protecting cultural heritage as the responsibility of all Australians, including the finance and business sectors. The initiative is being launched as the Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia prepares to report on its inquiry into the devastating destruction of Juukan Gorge on the traditional lands of the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (Binigura) peoples. This...

The National Native Title Council (NNTC) supports the WA Alliance – the five native title organisations that represent Aboriginal interests over the whole of Western Australia – in their unanimous call for the WA Government to press pause on passing its proposed new Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Bill, stating it fails to protect cultural heritage and poses significant risk to mining investors. The WA Alliance have stated repeatedly that Traditional Owners were not properly consulted in the short five-week consultation period and that the draft bill should not be presented to parliament in its current form. Instead, a genuine co-design process in partnership with Traditional Owners should take place. Submissions during the consultation period were based on the original draft bill unveiled in 2020, however the government has not...

One year on from Rio Tinto’s destruction of the 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge caves in the Western Pilbara, and we are still waiting for the legislative reform that will prevent a repeat of the catastrophe. The destruction of the caves, which were among Australia’s most culturally and archaeologically significant heritage sites, resulted in global condemnation and the dismissal of three of Rio Tinto’s top executives including the CEO. It also prompted the West Australian Government to fast-track their new Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Bill 2020 to replace the outdated Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 (AHA) which allowed the caves to be legally blasted against the wishes of Traditional Owners. NNTC CEO Mr Jamie Lowe said: “The question the NNTC is repeatedly asked is whether the new WA bill will stop another...