First Nations Heritage Protection Alliance named on pages 18/19
Protecting First Nations Heritage Labor shares the national devastation at the destruction of the 46,000-year-old Juukan rockshelters in May 2020. We engaged closely with First Nations representatives in response to the tragedy and have pursued answers and action in the Parliament, including helping to establish the Juukan Inquiry.
First Nations Peoples Plan 19 Labor is committed to achieving the change that is required. It should have been delivered some time ago but has been badly neglected by the Morrison Government.
An Albanese Labor Government will work with the First Nations Heritage Alliance and other stakeholders to reform our national heritage protection framework and prevent such destruction occurring in the future. This includes through new stand-alone First Nations heritage protection legislation.
Many reviews have highlighted the need for change and Labor’s work to strengthen heritage protections will take into account the findings of the Juukan Inquiry’s A Way Forward report, the Samuel Review of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, the Dhawura Ngilan best practice standards and the principles in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.