I hate saying this, but I have to, to avoid the usual unjustifiable criticism.

I have put my hand in my pocket for many Indigenous Australians.

I have always supported anyone with a needy cause.

But facts are facts.

As at June 30, 2021, there were reportedly 984,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. That is 984,000 in a population of 26 million. 3.8 per cent.

Many of those 3.8 per cent, along with the other 96.2 per cent of Australians, are tired of this Welcome to Country recital.

As the historian Keith Windshuttle has written, it is a fiction. An invention. There’s no basis for it in history.

But the impression is being cemented in the minds of Australians, especially the young, that these 984,000 citizens or 3.8 per cent own the country, even though many of them live uncomplaining lives similar to those of you and me.

So, welcome to country.

It’s not yours.

But you’re welcome.

This is nonsense…

But who knows where this stuff will end up?

Sweeping new Aboriginal Cultural Heritage laws came into effect in WA from July 1. These are on the cusp of being withdrawn, if we are to believe reports over the weekend. It is worth having a closer look at what was implemented.

With the laws came harsh penalties for damaging sites of so-called traditional significance.

Under the controversial Act, Local Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Services have been established.

They will be responsible for determining whether an activity will cause ‘harm to cultural heritage’.

Can you imagine a protest about damaging so-called cultural heritage will go to, not an independent entity but a Local Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Service?

Amongst other things, these new laws proposed to introduce a complex 3-tiered system.

Anyone on more than 1,100 square metres of land, that’s about 6 times the size of a normal 3 bedroom home, anyone on more than 1,100 square metres of land, will be required to apply for a permit from their Local Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Service, before carrying out activities like digging to put in a fence, planting trees, or clearing a track.

And for the application to be assessed, the landowner will have to pay the Local Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Service.

And under the fee guidelines, a Senior Aboriginal Consultant, defined as ‘an Aboriginal person who is recognised within their community as being senior and as having higher levels of knowledge, expertise, skills and authority in relation to Aboriginal cultural heritage’, is required. You know what comes next.

They can charge up to $1,200 a day.

Some of these so-called Cultural Heritage Service Executives can charge $300 an hour for their ‘knowledge, expertise, and skill’.

And an additional 20 per cent loading will apply to very remote areas.

Penalties for damaging a cultural heritage site range from $25,000 to $1 million for individuals; and $250,000 to $10 million for corporations, as well as jail time.

And the WA Labor government says it has consulted extensively with Aboriginal people and industry, to find a balance.

Well, if industry agreed to all this, they must be drinking something.

Where does the farmer, the pastoralist, the plumber, the fencer all fit into operating on land much bigger than 1,100 square metres?

This is not madness.

This is surrender.

They’re laughing at us.

They can do what they like and know we don’t have the guts to fight against it.

This is our country belonging to all Australians.

We don’t condone minorities running the government.

We should not condone minorities, whomever they are, interfering with the right of Australians to perform common sense task.

Let us hope the rumours are correct, and this law is thrown out.

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You can watch Alan Jones LIVE and free over on ADH TV.

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