Submission to consultation on the Draft National Environmental Standard for Matters of National Environmental Significance

The suite of Standards attached to the EPBC Act are an important regulatory contribution to the implementation of the legislation. However, in the case of the Draft MNES Standard, it falls well short of a regulatory environment that implements UNDRIP and defends Traditional Owner rights to their own cultural heritage.

It is essential that this ambitious suite of environmental reforms places strict guardrails around impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural heritage and places control for the identification of that heritage and its significance in the hand of its Traditional Owners through their representative organisations. To do so, the following recommendations should be enacted:

• the self-assessment process for referral, in regard to consultation with impacts to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage, must include consultation with the affected Traditional Owners;
• those same Traditional Owners are the only ones who can identify the significance of the cultural heritage and identify what ‘significant impact’ would be;
• TEK, ICH and ICIP must be respected as cultural heritage, with inherent ownership rights and to which permission for use can be granted and withdrawn; and
• the ‘mitigation hierarchy’ should be amended to include provision for FPIC.

Photo: Fingal Head Bundjalung country