This article provides a critical analysis of some of the seven proposals put forward to regulate and amend the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972.
Reference is made throughout to Aboriginal heritage legislation in other Australian jurisdictions. We do not mean to suggest any of this legislation is ideal, as we are aware that Indigenous people throughout Australia have concerns about the level of protection being given to their heritage.
We are seeking to show, however, that many of the measures that have been introduced in other jurisdictions—some of which have been criticised as being inadequate by the local Aboriginal people—do not exist at all in Western Australia (‘WA’).