Call Labor: Protect Sacred Sites and Cultural Heritage

There is no wrong way to do it, but here's some helpful hints to give you a sense of how your call will go and some of the things you might like to say:

• Ring ring – A staffer will answer the phone. If you don't get through straight away, wait a moment and then try again, or try the other Minister's phone number.
• Introduce yourself - Who you are? Are you a constituent? Where do you live? What do you do?
• Explain the reason for your call - Tell the staffer that given today's news of another Rio Tinto Juukan Gorge, you want to urge Tanya Plibersek or Linda Burney to fullfil their election promise of legislating a national Cultural Heritage Protection Act.
• Share your story - Explain why this is important to you with an example of what First Nations cultural heritage means to you and this country. How you feel about another sacred site, like Juukan Gorge, being damaged. How would it affect your community, your state or us as a nation?
• Ask for a commitment - Ask the staffer if their office will commit to standing up to protect sacred sites from destruction and bringing forward critical cultural heritage protection legislation. They may or may not commit, but this will send a clear message that you're serious about holding them to account.
• Say thanks! - Thank them for taking the time to listen to you, and ask them to please pass your message onto the Minister.

Remember to be friendly and polite! And if you have any questions, just shoot us an email.

Will you urgently call the Minister?

The final report of the inquiry into the destruction of the Juukan Gorge caves was handed down in October 2021.² The recommendations were big, and a testament to the tireless resistance led by the Aboriginal Land Rights movement over 50 years. Here's some of the key recommendations:

• The Cultural Heritage Act must be re-written to set a national standard for protection.
• The new law must be co-designed with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
• Investment in a review of all Aboriginal Heritage areas that would turn into a national register of tangible and intangible cultural heritage sites including those already destroyed.
• Veto power for Traditional Owners to refuse consent to projects impacting cultural heritage.
• Harsher penalties for corporations who destroy cultural heritage, giving Traditional Owners the right to pursue damages.

After two years, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek announced that the Albanese Government would legislate a new Cultural Heritage Protection Act.³

Now, the mining industry and their friends in the Coalition are doing everything in their power to undermine progress. It's up to us to remind the Albanese Government of their commitments, and urge them to hold strong in urgently legislating cultural heritage protections.