Name Change and Penalty Increases Being Considered for Tasmania’s Aboriginal Relics Act
Monday 5 June 2017 @ 11.56 a.m. | Legal Research
The Tasmanian Parliament is currently considering the Aboriginal Relics Amendment Bill 2017, which the Tasmanian Government has said will form the basis of “an interim step to address areas of immediate concern” with the Aboriginal Relics Act 1975. The Bill passed with amendments through the Legislative Council on 1 June 2017, and these amendments will now be considered in the House of Assembly. The Bill would change the name of the Aboriginal Relics Act 1975 to the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1975, and make a number of other changes to the operation of the Act in Tasmania.
Introducing the Bill into the House of Assembly, Minister for Environment, Parks and Heritage Matthew Groom said:
“The history of Tasmania’s Aboriginal people dates back more than 40,000 years. It is an exceptional history, of great significance and importance to Tasmania and the global community. It is also a history that will continue to be written through the living heritage of the present and future generations of Tasmania’s Aboriginal people. The clear intent of this Bill is to ensure that this extraordinary Aboriginal cultural heritage has the proper recognition and protection it deserves, for present and future generations.”
According to Mr Groom, the changes set out in the Bill were initially set out for public consultation in June 2016, and have also gone through a second round of public consultations in early 2017. The interim changes are meant to pave the way for a full review of the legislation “in the coming years”.
Proposed Amendments
Currently, the Aboriginal Relics Act 1975 has a “cut-off date” of 1876, beyond which, Aboriginal relics are not protected. The new Bill will remove this cut-off date from the Act.
The Bill will also establish a new Aboriginal Heritage Council, which will consist of no more than 10 members, all of whom are to be Aboriginal persons. The Council will have an advisory function, and will be able to make written recommendations to the Minister and consult with the wider Aboriginal community.
The Bill will also introduce new penalty provisions for damage to relics. In his second reading speech, Mr Groom said:
“Maximum penalties (for deliberate acts) are 10,000 penalty units (currently $1.57 million) for bodies corporate other than small business entities and 5,000 penalty units (currently $785,000) for individuals or small business entities; for reckless or negligent offences, the maximum penalties are 2,000 and 1,000 penalty units respectively (currently $314,000 and $157,000 respectively).”
There are also smaller penalties to cover lesser offences.
The new Bill will introduce two new defences. The first will cover acts during an emergency response. The second defence is for “compliance with the guidelines”, which will be issued by the Minister. Mr Groom said the new guidelines “will provide an opportunity for people and businesses to be pro-active in seeking to minimise the harm they might do, and avoid the chance of their actions being negligent.”
The new Bill also extends the current time available for commencing prosecutions under the Act from 6 months to 2 years.
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Sources:
Aboriginal Relics Amendment Bill 2017 (Tas) and Second Reading Speech - available from TimeBase's LawOne service
