Australian Heritage Law

Australian Heritage Law

Australian heritage laws exist at the national (Commonwealth) level, and at each of Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia state levels.

It is these laws, and their associated regulations, registers, agreements, case law, and practices that seek to protect, preserve, present, and transmit the Australian nation's natural, cultural, and historical heritage into the future. Aboriginal Law within Australia is sometimes portrayed as a undue control on various sectors of the Australian Aboriginal Community. It Victoria the recent legislation was a direct attack by government to curtail Aboriginal artifact activities by various Aboriginal Organisations. It was a direct response by government to Landholder, Developer, and land Management organisations that were protesting over having to pay royalties to Aboriginal Peoples in the areas that the project were developing. This led to wide spread project holdups with the state over a 10–15 years period. These organisations had the effect of holding up various government and private construction projects due to the nature of the Aboriginal Artifact materials found on many sites. The government decided to put into effect a schedule of rates and to appoint Aboriginal Organisations as being registered aboriginal parties (RAPS). The schedule of rates was screwed down over 500% on what used to be paid for the same service before the Act. The government effectively gutted the Victorian Aboriginal Cultural Heritage industry overnight. This was the whole point to the Victorian Legislation. To control the Cultural Heritage Industry, and to give in to pressure from developers, landholders, and government land management departments.