Roger Jaensch,Minister for Aboriginal Affairs
The Tasmanian Liberal Government recognises the importance of Tasmania’s Aboriginal cultural heritage to Tasmanian Aboriginal people, and all Tasmanians.
It deserves to be recognised and protected by effective and modern laws that respect its significance and support Aboriginal people to exercise their role as its custodians.
Today, I am pleased to release a Consultation Paper that marks the next step of our Government’s action to introduce new legislation to better protect Tasmania’s Aboriginal Cultural Heritage.
Our Government completed a review of Tasmania’s existing Aboriginal Heritage Act 1975 last year, which concluded with the tabling of a Review Report in Parliament.
The overwhelming finding of the Review was that the legislation was outdated and in need of replacement. Our Government accepted those findings and committed to developing a new Act as a priority.
The Consultation Paper outlines our Government’s proposed approach on key elements of new Aboriginal heritage legislation, based on the findings in the Review Report.
We are clear and transparent about our proposals and welcome feedback from Tasmanian Aboriginal people, and the broader Tasmanian community.
One of the most important proposals is that the new legislation should clearly recognise Tasmanian Aboriginal people as the rightful custodians of their cultural heritage.
To that extent, we are also proposing that the new legislation should provide for a strengthened Aboriginal Heritage Council that will have decision making powers on matters such as:
- what constitutes Aboriginal cultural heritage;
- repatriation processes;
- the granting of permits for interfering with or harming Aboriginal cultural heritage; and
- the approval of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Management Plans for complex activities that pose a risk to Aboriginal cultural heritage.
My commitment is to listen carefully to all views and to introduce legislation that is effective and balanced and, most importantly, that provides for the contemporary management and conservation of Tasmania’s unique Aboriginal heritage by the rightful custodians of that heritage – Tasmania’s Aboriginal people.
A six-week consultation period will run until Sunday, April 24, 2022. Following this stage of consultation, we will use the feedback provided to develop draft legislation, which will be the focus of further consultation, to make sure we get this important legislation right.
The Consultation Paper and further information about this phase of consultation is available on the Department’s website: https://nre.tas.gov.au/about-the-department/aboriginal-heritage-act.
