Commonwealth, State and Territory Ministers have met in a video conference to affirm the fundamental importance of Indigenous heritage to the nation.
Minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt said he and his colleagues expressed deep sorrow at the destruction of the nationally significant Indigenous heritage sites at Juukan Gorge (pictured afterwards) in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia.
“They resolved that this incident must be the launching pad for the modernisation of Indigenous heritage protection laws in Australia,” Mr Wyatt said.
“Ministers agreed that the work of lifting the standard of Indigenous heritage protection must be done in partnership with Indigenous Australians.”
He said that over the past 12 months the Chairs of Australia’s national, State and Territory Indigenous heritage bodies, with support from peak organisations representing every major Land Council and native title representative bodies, had developed Dhawura Ngilan.
“This is a vision for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage in Australia and best practice standards for Indigenous cultural heritage management and legislation,” the Minister said.
He said the Chair of the Australian Heritage Council, David Kemp and Rachel Perkins, an Indigenous heritage expert member of the Council, outlined the significance of the vision and best practice standards.
“They see Dhawura Ngilan as a unifying expression of the expectations of Australia’s Indigenous peoples for the protection of their heritage, their custodianship of it, and their desire for it to be recognised and celebrated as deeply important to Australia’s heritage and identity as a nation,” Mr Wyatt said.
