A group of Indigenous Australians has filed a complaint to the United Nations over Western Australia’s draft heritage protection laws.
This comes more than a year after mining company Rio Tinto legally destroyed historically and culturally significant rock shelters to expand a mine.
The group is making a formal request for a UN Committee to review the state’s cultural heritage bill, calling it incompatible with Australia’s international obligations.
Senior elder, Slim Parker said, “If the traditional owners, the first Australians, say, ‘No, don’t destroy this particular site,’ that must stand, the days when the minister has the discretion and the final say, should be over.”