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Snapshot

  • A recent High Court decision found the Crown can be criminally liable for failure to obtain approval for works on a First Nations sacred site and highlighted the grossly outdated legislation in other jurisdictions.
  • The Northern Territory has laws which are a ‘gold standard’ for the protection of First Nations heritage while others are turning 50 and still contained in legislation relating to national parks and wildlife.
  • In order to make destruction of cultural sites and places a thing of the past, and to provide certainty and clarity for developers, uniform legislation based on the NT model should be considered.

Gunlom Falls is in Jawoyn People’s country. It is a beautiful place to many. It is sacred to the Jawoyn People, a constituent and fundamental part of their spiritual connection to their lands and waters, and held on trust for them by the Gunlom Aboriginal Land Trust. The area of the Falls and surrounds was leased by the Trust to the Director of National Parks (‘DNP’), a Commonwealth corporation sole continued in existence under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth), and the leased area is therefore part of Kakadu National Park.

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