“The revelation today that Aboriginal artefacts of historical significance are being sold on eBay sadly comes as no surprise to me, given the lack of interest the NSW Government has shown in protecting indigenous culture and heritage”, says Ian Cohen Greens MLC.
“For months I have been asking questions of Carmel Tebbutt, the Minister for the Environment and Climate Change, about this issue while in the meantime Aboriginal treasures continue to be pillaged or destroyed at the rate of three a week.
“ In 2001 the Government moved an amendment to Section 90 of the National Parks and Wildlife Act (NPWA). The amendment was meant to create a strict liability offence for the destruction or disturbance of Aboriginal artefacts, however certain lobby groups have intervened to stop the amendment from being proclaimed.”
“Currently a person can claim they didn’t know or didn’t intend to damage or remove aboriginal artefacts or heritage sites. Putting into effect the amendment from 2001 removes the possibility that an offender can claim lack of intent as a defence and makes a person or company strictly liable for the damage.”
“Since the amendment has still – eight years on – not been proclaimed, hundreds of Aboriginal heritage sites have been trashed because the law, as it is, cannot protect them”, says Mr Cohen.
“Under the current Act, the maximum penalty for an individual charged with destroying indigenous heritage is $5,500 or $22,000 for a company. Of the handful of prosecutions that have even come before the courts in the last five years, the median penalty imposed for is $450 – less than 10 percent of the maximum. “
“This is a meagre amount that would hardly deter someone making a profit from these artefacts on eBay, let alone a developer of a multimillion dollar property project.”
“I believe the Government has not proclaimed this amendment to the NPWA because of pressure from mining interests. Since the amendment was moved DECC has had a number of submissions, notably from the NSW Minerals Council. What other reason for this stalling can there be after eight years?”
More information: Catherine Coorey 0402 315 345 and Ian Cohen: 0409 989 466
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