On 18 December 2023, the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs released an update on the preparation of new Aboriginal cultural heritage legislation.
The Government welcomes comments or feedback on this update, which can be provided up until 16 February 2024:• via email to:
| AboriginalHeritageAct@heritage.tas.gov.au
| |
• via post to:
| Review of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1975
Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania
GPO Box 44
Hobart TAS 7001 |
| • by requesting a face-to-face meeting via the above email address |
Next steps
The Government is committed to working with Tasmanian Aboriginal people, key non‑Aboriginal stakeholders and relevant Tasmanian government agencies to ensure it gets the detail of the new legislation right.
A complete exposure draft Bill will be released for public comment as soon as practicable in 2024, prior to a final Bill being tabled in Parliament. The exposure Bill will be accompanied by further explanatory material and an implementation plan to ensure that the detail of Bill is clear and that transitional arrangements are appropriately provided for.
Background
The Aboriginal Heritage Act 1975 (the Act) was reviewed in 2019-20, and the Review Report was released in July 2021. It was accompanied by a Tabling Report that outlined the Government’s response, including a commitment to develop new and comprehensive legislation to replace the Act.
A consultation paper – A new Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Protection Act – High-level Policy Directions – outlining the Government’s proposed approach to new Aboriginal cultural heritage legislation that will better respect and protect the State’s irreplaceable Aboriginal cultural heritage was released for public consultation in March 2022. The submissions to that paper are published on the submissions page.
Background on previous consultation, and more generally on the Act, is on our Legislation page.
Note on Privacy and copyright information
In accord with government policy, with minor exceptions we publish all submissions made. Other than as indicated below, submissions are treated as public information and will be published on our website.
Important Information to note
Your name (or the name of the organisation) will be published unless you request otherwise. No personal information other than those names will be published.
If you would like your submission treated as confidential, whether in whole or in part, please indicate this at the time of making your submission, clearly identifying the parts of your submission you want to remain confidential and the reasons why. In this case, your submission will not be published to the extent of that request.
In the absence of a clear indication that a submission (or parts of it) is intended to be treated as confidential, the Department will treat the submission as public.
Copyright in submissions remains with the author(s), not with the Tasmanian Government.
The Department will not publish, in whole or in part, submissions containing defamatory or offensive material. If your submission includes information that could enable the identification of other individuals, then either all or parts of the submission will not be published.
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