Dissatisfied With Australia's Cultural Heritage Protection Bill, Representatives Of Aboriginal Leaders Ask The United Nations To Intervene

JAKARTA - A group of Aboriginal leaders filed a complaint with the United Nations (UN) over a bill to protect Western Australia's heritage, more than a year after public protests over the destruction of a cultural area protected by a private company.

The group made a formal request to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, reviewing the state's draft cultural heritage law, calling it inconsistent with Australia's international obligations.

While the UN has no authority over Australian state laws, the group hopes the committee's involvement can help pressure state governments to make changes.

"If the traditional owner, the first Australian, says, 'No, don't destroy this particular site,' it has to endure," said Slim Parker, a senior Martidja Banjima elder who was one of those filing the complaint.

"The days when the minister has the discretion and the final say, 'Well, we've heard what you have to say, but we're going to do it anyway,' must end," he said.

The Western Australian government is redesigning heritage laws that have allowed damage to significant Aboriginal sites, such as the legal demolition of a rock sanctuary in Juukan Gorge by mining company Rio Tinto last year.

The new draft law places more emphasis on agreements between indigenous groups and developers, but the government still takes the final say in inheritance disputes.

The state government said in a statement on Wednesday the bill allowed areas of exceptional Aboriginal cultural heritage as defined by Aboriginal people to be declared protected areas but did not specifically comment on the UN complaint.

"This declaration provides special protection to these areas from activities that might damage that heritage," the statement said.

"Under the draft law, no one can apply for authorization to carry out activities that could damage Aboriginal cultural heritage in protected areas," the statement continued.

However, the group says the bill contains inadequate protection of the right to culture, which prohibits the state from destroying significant Aboriginal cultural heritage.

"Traditional owners cannot say 'no' to activities that would destroy a significant cultural heritage," he added.

Without such protections, the risk remains "a continuation of the systemic and racial discrimination that characterizes the current legislation," he said.

Among the five prominent Aboriginal Australians who filed the complaint is human rights specialist Hannah McGlade, a professor at Curtin Law School who is from the Kurin Minang tribe.