The Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act (ACH) comes into effect on the July 1, 2023, in Western Australia (WA). Ostensibly it is to protect Aboriginal cultural sites across Western Australia. And yet, there is a real concern that this legislation will generate ‘the deluge of red tape and the suffocation of private property rights which this act facilitates’. Pastoralists and Graziers Association WA president Tony Seabrook, who believes that this is a ‘very poorly written piece of legislation’, is fully convinced that ‘this is not about destroying Aboriginal culture or heritage, this is an act that could cost [WA farmers] hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of dollars’.

According to the Western Australian Government Gazette 30 May 2023, page 1373:

‘The Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2021 (Act) recognises, protects, conserves, and preserves Aboriginal cultural heritage (ACH), and recognises the fundamental importance of ACH to Aboriginal people and its role in Aboriginal communities past, present, and future. The Act recognises the value of ACH to Aboriginal people as well as to the wider Western Australian community.’

In the Gazette, one also finds the statement that, ‘One of the key principles of the Act relating to the management of activities that may harm ACH is that, as far as practicable, utilise land for the optimum benefit of the people of Western Australia, the values held by Aboriginal people in relation to ACH should be prioritised when managing activities that may harm ACH.’ And this document also states that, ‘Where an activity that may harm ACH is proposed to be carried out, a due diligence assessment (DDA) is required to be undertaken (other than for exempt activities) to assess the risk of harm to ACH to enable a proponent to determine how to proceed in relation to the proposed activity.’

It would seem that the big concern with the new legislation is the implementation of how a due diligence assessment is undertaken. The ACH Management Code requires that such an assessment be carried out to determine whether:

• The activity is in a protected area.
• There is any ACH located within an activity area.
• The activity should be carried out in such a way, such as using an alternative location or alternative method, to avoid harming ACH, and can therefore be carried out without any authorisation.

As per the ACH legislation, authorisation is required for the proposed activity, which may require: taking reasonable steps to avoid or minimise ‘harm’; obtaining an ACH permit (Permit) or an ACH management plan (Plan); engagement with Aboriginal parties required.

There is a three-tier system and one category of exempt activity. On the face of it, it is about disturbance of soil and or disturbance of Aboriginal cultural sites. Below are listed those categories.

Minor activity (no approval is required)

• ‘Like for like’ activities – within the same footprint, and to the same depth.
• Residential development on land less than 1,100 sqm is exempt and can proceed as planned.
• This includes constructing a home, general maintenance, and activities like ploughing and seeding an existing paddock or maintaining existing water, electricity, and other infrastructure.
• A range of other exemptions also apply.

Low amount of activity (Tier 1)

• Where there is no, or minimal level, ground disturbance, but where there is a risk of harm to Aboriginal cultural heritage, the activity may proceed subject to a requirement to undertake all reasonable steps possible to avoid or minimise harm to Aboriginal cultural heritage.
• For example, putting up or installing a fence in a way that does not involve clearing is a Tier 1 activity and doesn’t need authorisation.

Medium activity (Tier 2)

• For activities involving low-level ground disturbance, the Act establishes a permit system based around due diligence and application to the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Council.
• This could include erecting or installing a new stock watering point or a yard. A nominal $100 administrative fee will apply for a permit.

High level of activity (Tier 3)

• Activities that involve moderate to high-level ground disturbance will require an Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Management Plan to be negotiated with the relevant Aboriginal parties.
• This can include a new mine site, deep excavation or land clearing or major construction projects.
• A scalable system of fixed and variable application fees will apply for moderate to high ground-disturbing activities.
• This takes effect with the new laws from July 1, 2023.

The Act requires applications with application fees depending on the type of activity. ‘Fees will start with a nominal $100 administrative fee for permits, similar to other government processes for issuing licences and permits.’

We are convinced that the risk to agricultural farms is not insignificant as has been already expressed to one of the authors by one farmer in the northeast wheat belt. It is the uncertainty on whether or not any activity may fall into the non-exempt categories, couple with the cost of a DDA if it does and the impact on the already overbearing costs of farming, that disturbs that farmer the most. Indeed, an online social media account posted the following:

‘I tried to raise some of the implications of the new WA [Aboriginal Cultural] Heritage Act on a FB page today and got banned. People need to realise the Act will affect every West Australian indirectly, not just people who own more than a quarter of an acre. Just a few scenarios – many over 55’s villages are built on 5 acre blocks near rivers therefore they are built in registered native title areas. The owners of the over 55’s villages will have to pay for permits to landscape, do earthworks, and dig holes. They may even have to apply for a permit to dig a trench for reticulation, electrical conduit, and a septic system. 

‘The Act affects caravan parks near rivers too, so caravan park owners will pass the added cost will be passed onto customers. Farms that produce food need a permit to create a new paddock and a permit for a dam. They will pass the cost of permits onto customers so food will go up. There is no incentive to participate in landcare activities on your property, knowing you will need a permit in the future to remove every tree you plant. People will avoid getting earthworks, fencing, firebreaks, and landscaping done on special rural and rural properties because a permit will be needed for these activities – meaning contractors will get less work. This Act is fueling apartheid.’

There is definitely a great concern and it is reflected in an e-Petition to WA Parliament, which closed June 20, 2023, to delay promulgation by 6 months in order to properly set up procedures and training to cope with the new regulations. The petition notes:

The incomplete nature of the implementation of the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2021 which is imposing an extreme level of uncertainty on Western Australian landowners, business owners, and individuals. 

The Act will create a new and unique and untested approvals system for which there is no capacity at this time to seek approvals online, meaning businesses, such as pastoralists, farmers, prospectors, and those in civil construction will have to cease all works until approvals, which can only be lodged after 1 July are then processed and approved or rejected. 

That as of 2 June 2023, the Department of Planning Lands and Heritage advises that no Local Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Service exists creating further business risk.

In view of this intolerable situation and risk to the Western Australian economy, we call on the Legislative Council to urge the Government to delay the promulgation of the Act by at least six months … [emphasis added]

This is the fastest growing petition to WA parliament in its entire history. As of June 20, there were no less than 29,716 signatures and growing. Those were collected in only 14 days, and that number makes it the highest number ever achieved in the state. Why is that you might ask? Could it be that this new legislation opens a way to grab or at least control private property?

That is the major concern we have. Once it is implemented, the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2021 will drive many farmers off the land. Many have razor thin margins to stay in business as it is now. This could be ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’ and result in many farmers having to sell their properties to large corporations.

Call us cynical but we believe that these things are not happening by chance.

‘You see, Western Australia is an experiment. We have … very high vaccination levels, and we have a very compliant population’, said then state Premier Mark McGowan in early 2022.

The globalist cabal has been busy undermining food security for decades. Food security is what the global oligarchs, led by the World Economic Forum (WEF), intend to destroy so that they can then impose a new food system based entirely on patented, ultra-processed foods based on meat substitutes and ‘green’ protein alternatives such as cricket meal and mealworms.

According to Dr Joseph Mercola, an osteopathic physician and recipient of multiple awards in the field of natural health:

‘The end goal of The Great Reset-pushing elitists is to own everything and control the entire global population through a combination of false flag disasters, social engineering technologies, ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’ development policies, a revamped food system of their own making, and global security measures’.

If there is anything the ‘pandemic’ has taught us is that the governments are not working for the people. Accordingly, such a ‘pandemic’ has given proponents of the ‘Great Reset’ a tremendous boost because it has facilitated authoritarian decision-making and created an unsustainable welfare state while crushing the independent sector of the economy. Hence, snitching, suppression of free speech, artificial intelligence and facial recognition technologies, government-sanctioned discrimination against the unvaccinated, and the allocation of a social credit score has been used to facilitate the advent of a new world order.

‘You will own nothing, and you will be happy.’ This confronting statement emanates from the World Economic Forum (WEF), an international non-governmental lobbying organisation established in 1971 by Klaus Schwab. Private property is the ‘big ticket’ item for the advancement of the ‘Great Reset’ and the WEF’s goal is ultimately to shut down all food production in order to reduce so-called ‘carbon emissions’. This is just another scam intent on creating engineered famines and hence facilitate the reduction of ‘the most injurious form of carbon’, human beings, by at least 7 billion in the next decade.

We believe that the WA government is following the script of the ‘Great Reset’, which requires weakening food security by eventually taking land from the farmers. The plans to compromise food security and destroy our property rights are well underway in Western Australia. We need to wake up to these tactics and resist all efforts to impose their dystopian objectives on us. Unless we want to end up in a slave system, resisting the ABH legislation in Western Australia certainly plays an important role in the ongoing struggle for fundamental rights and freedoms.

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John Gideon Hartnett is an Australian physicist and cosmologist, and a Christian with a biblical creationist worldview. He has a Ph.D. with distinction in Physics from The University of Western Australia (UWA). During his research career he worked at UWA and the University of Adelaide obtaining many research grants. He has published more than 200 papers in scientific leading journals, in book chapters and in conference proceedings. He was a foundering director of an Australian startup now commercialising his research on ultra-stable cryogenic ‘clocks’. He has lectured around the world in churches and conferences and written extensively on biblical creation mostly in terms of astrophysics and cosmology. 

Augusto Zimmermann is professor and Head of Law at Sheridan Institute of Higher Education, in Perth, Western Australia. He is a former Director of Postgraduate Research (2011-2012 and 2015-2017) and Associate Dean, Research (2010-2012) at Murdoch University. During his time at Murdoch, Dr Zimmermann was awarded the University’s Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research in 2012. He is also a former Commissioner with the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia (2012-2017), and President of the Western Australian Legal Theory Association (WALTA). Dr Zimmermann is the author of numerous academic articles and books, including ‘Foundations of the Australian Legal System: History, Theory and Practice’ (LexisNexis, 2023).

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