The Minerals Council of Australia will discuss their perspectives on cultural heritage protection and insights into improvements that could be made in the sector with the Northern Australia Committee at a public hearing tomorrow.
As well as this second appearance by the Minerals Council, the Committee will also be hearing from Glencore/McArthur River Mine, Australian Archaeology Association, Australian Indigenous Archaeologists Association, Northern Land Council and Kokatha Aboriginal Corporation
Northern Australia Committee Chair Warren Entsch noted that it would be interesting to hear the perspectives of archaeologists working in the area of Indigenous cultural heritage.
Mr Entsch stated that he ‘is keen to engage with the Northern Land Council and the Kokatha Aboriginal Corporation in order to discuss their perspectives on issues that have been raised by other stakeholders’.
The Australian Archaeology Association, in their submission, conveyed that situations comparable to Juukan Gorge, where Aboriginal sites having cultural significance to Traditional Owners, as well as scientific archaeological significance, are destroyed happen all too often.
A key issue for the Australian Indigenous Archaeologist’s Association is the dumbing down of Australia’s National, State and Territory Indigenous heritage legislation since the adoption of the EPBC Act in 1999.
A program for the public hearing is available on the Committee’s website.
Public hearing details
Date: Tuesday, 6 July 2021
Time: 9:00 am to 3:00 pm AEST
Location: by video/teleconference
The hearings will be broadcast live at aph.gov.au/live.
Further details of the inquiry, including terms of reference, can be found on the Committee’s website.
Media enquiries
Hon Warren Entsch MP, Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia
warren.entsch.mp@aph.gov.au
07 4051 2220
For background information
Committee Secretariat
02 6277 4162
jscna@aph.gov.au
For more information about this Committee, you can visit its website. On the site, you can make a submission to an inquiry, read other submissions and get details for upcoming public hearings. You can also track the Committee and receive email updates by clicking on the blue ‘Track Committee’ button in the bottom right hand corner of the page.
