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Completion of Kakadu National Park (Koongarra Project Area Repeal) Bill 2013

Introduced into the House of Representatives on 6 February 2013
Portfolio: Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities

1.1        This bill seeks to repeal in its entirety the Koongarra Project Area Act 1981. This Act enables the Koongarra area, which is surrounded by the Kakadu National Park, to be excluded from the boundaries of the national park to accommodate future mining prospects. The relevant section of the 1981 Act that would bring the Act relevantly into force has never been proclaimed.

Compatibility with human rights

1.2        The self-contained statement of compatibility states that the bill does not engage any applicable rights or freedoms and so is compatible with human rights.

1.3        The effect of the bill is to include within the boundaries of the Kakadu National Park the Koongarra Project Area. The statement of compatibility notes that this area ‘was excluded from the boundaries of the Kakadu National Park when it was proclaimed in 1979. This exclusion was made to accommodate the prospect of future mining activity. Since that time, a number of parties have pursued the development of mining at Koongarra but no mining tenements have been granted.’ It notes that ‘[t]he Australian Government committed at the 2010 federal election to protect Koongarra as part of Kakadu in line with the express views of the traditional owner.’

1.4        Although not mentioned in the explanatory memorandum or the statement of compatibility, in June 2011 the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO, on nomination by the Australian government, included the Koongarra Project Area on the World Heritage Register as part of the Kakadu National Park listing under the UNESCO Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.[1] Documentation before the World Heritage Committee noted that:

The Koongarra area is Aboriginal land. ... The Koongarra area includes the Nourlangie rock art sites. This and the Ubirr rock art site, 50 kilometres to the north-east, are the two major foci of rock art in the Park.

1.5        The committee notes that, by providing for the inclusion of the Koongara area in the Kakadu National Park and removing the possibility of mining, in accordance with the wishes of the traditional owner, the bill will contribute to the promotion and enjoyment of the rights of the traditional owner. This promotes the rights of Indigenous peoples to self-determination and to participate in culture, and rights of non-Indigenous people to benefit from culture.[2]

1.6                 The committee considers that this bill does not appear to give rise to human rights concerns.

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