Carnarvon growers outraged, members unable to attend cultural heritage information night due to venue size

The Carnarvon Growers Association is calling for reforms to Aboriginal heritage laws to be delayed by six months after being left with a sour taste in their mouth after members were unable to register for an information forum. Claims are persisting the State Government is leaving primary stakeholders in the dark, 12 days out from the biggest change to Aboriginal heritage laws WA has ever seen. The education session on June 28 is being held at Carnarvon’s Gwoonwardu Mia multipurpose cultural centre, which can seat 80 people, forcing hundreds of growers to sit the evening out, as well as a Vietnamese translator not being provided. The association was told the venue was unable to be changed to a bigger space due to catering and audio visual set-up plans being in place, despite other regions catering for up to 550 attendants, and being held at civic centres or similar venues. The revised Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act, which comes into effect next month, sets out a new approval process for works that may impact significant heritage sites across the State and Carnarvon encompasses a big portion of culturally significant land, impacting the operation of growers in the region. The new legislation will replace the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972, removing the section 18 process that allowed Rio Tinto to destroy Juukan Gorge in the Pilbara. The legislation is complex, and can be difficult to understand for growers, especially in the case of the Vietnamese growers who have limited English speaking abilities, and have had requests for a translator fall on deaf ears. “The implementation of the Act has to be delayed by six months to give the department time to catch up and allow a more productive consultative process of engaging the community to acknowledge the importance of what it actually means to protect indigenous land,” Carnarvon Growers Association operations manager Nic Cuthbert said. Mr Cuthbert said there has been no attempt to include those who matter in this process, “giving people four days to wrap their heads around this is not community standards, they are not listening and this is just heading for disaster”. “Properly planning and educating people on these things is what prevents mistakes down the line,” he said. Mr Cuthbert said added uncertainty from the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage had left growers questioning their investment and the long-term viability of their businesses.