2016-05-14
On Thursday 17 March, National Close the Gap Day, Rachel Siewert and I launched Home is Heritage, our campaign to prevent the forced closure of remote Aboriginal communities. The launch video has reached more than 17,000 people so far and we are receiving positive feedback from residents of remote communities. We have established partnerships with SOS Black Australia and Aboriginal Heritage Action Alliance, and are collaborating with many others. The day after the launch, I travelled to Broome to meet with community members and promote the campaign, and received many encouraging comments that the Greens were leading the way in preventing community closures, protecting heritage, and advocating around stolen wages. Many people signed up to our mailing list, and I also distributed flyers, magnets, and bumper stickers promoting Home is Heritage.
For our next steps, we are seeking more information on the Regional Services Reform Unit and on the community consultations they are supposed to be carrying out. We are gaining more information by asking questions in Parliament, as well as by encouraging residents of remote communities to submit information via the Home is Heritage tip-off form. If you have not already joined Home is Heritage, I would love it if you signed up at http://homeisheritage.com/.
We are making a concentrated effort to create more visual content. This includes the new Home is Heritage launch video, a short documentary on the Burrup, and a call to action to protect Horizontal Falls. Lynn and I have also started a fortnightly blog to recap the action of parliament: we would really welcome your feedback on this. Keep an eye out for more videos in the future and to find the ones we have done in the past please visit my Facebook page.
This week, a legal challenge was mounted by traditional owners against section 18 Aboriginal heritage approvals granted for the Roe 8 Highway project and writs were served against Aboriginal Affairs Minister Peter Collier and the Aboriginal Affairs Department, on behalf of the Aboriginal Cultural Materials Committee. This is the second legal challenge mounted against section 18 approvals presided over by Minister Collier in as many years. Furthermore, I discovered recently that sections 10 and 32 of the act provide the Minister with direct powers to speed up the assessment process of more than 15,800 backlogged heritage sites, yet he has refused to do so on record. Given there was a cabinet reshuffle announcement this week, I personally called on the Premier to relieve the Minister of his portfolio and for this government to step up and treat Aboriginal heritage, and Aboriginal people, with the respect they deserve.
Photo: Robin on the road with the Home is Heritage campaign. Connor Slight