analysisJuukan Gorge law backflip is Roger Cook in damage control mode, but the risks remain
By Keane BourkeGovernments don't often backflip on major policies.
So speculation around the WA government scrapping its controversial Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act shows just how worried Premier Roger Cook and his colleagues are about the continued damage the laws seem to be having.
The laws were introduced in the wake of the destruction of Juukan Gorge, which was authorised under the previous cultural heritage legislation.
But it's those same laws — which the government spent so long saying were problematic — that West Australians could soon be governed by again.
Following months of sustained pressure from the opposition, farming groups and sections of the media, the scales seem to have tipped too far for the government to continue standing by its updated legislation.
Criticisms around the laws' lack of clarity, and the time and cost pressures it would put on landowners, seem to have convinced the government to rethink its approach.
Despite the insistence of cabinet minister Stephen Dawson that "no decision" has been made, there are lots of solid political reasons for Cook and his colleagues to go back to the drawing board.
Disarming the opposition
While the government will cop some flack for introducing and initially standing by legislation so bad it's now apparently scrapping after little over a month of operation, it largely disarms the opposition of one of their key attacks.
One of the few policies the Nationals and Liberals have been able to put forward in the long lead up to the next election is scrapping and re-writing the cultural heritage legislation.
The backflip will still leave ample fodder for them to campaign against the government.
"This is not the first time Labor has rammed through legislation which has not had the chance to be considered in full by the opposition or the broader community," Opposition leader Shane Love said in a statement on Saturday.
But the government will be able to sell its change of heart as an exercise in listening to the community and its concerns.
And although the government's relationship with farmers and others affected by the legislation has been damaged, and some confusion will still ensue, it's now got an opportunity to bring those critics back onside.
"It's fantastic news. We can't ask for much more than what seems to have been what's announced," Pastoralists and Graziers Association WA president Tony Seabrook said on Friday night.
Yes Voice campaigners relieved
Many of those campaigning for a Yes vote for the Voice to Parliament are almost certainly breathing a sigh of relief too.
The cultural heritage saga had been linked to the Voice by sections of the community and proved confusing for some — so this weekend's change will almost certainly make the Yes campaign's job easier.
That's despite the fact there's little link between the two, and the government has been at pains to insist the two are separate issues.
But once the heat and excitement of the backflip dies down a few risks will still remain for the government.
Some Aboriginal groups who had supported the laws will be bitterly disappointed by this latest development.
"It was going to allow better negotiations and genuine community partnership agreements, better accountability and transparency and most importantly protection of Aboriginal heritage," South West Land and Sea Council board member Michelle Nelson-Cox said.
"It just seems a shame after all of the work that's been put into this bill that the outcome is that it's not going to get over."
Imperative to get it right
But the biggest risk will come when the government brings back its rethought Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act — whenever that is.
It's had once chance to get it right, and now looks to have admitted it didn't.
The only thing politically worse would be to face this kind of political opposition a second time around.
The government's got an opportunity to fix what many have seen as one of its biggest mistakes, while still protecting Aboriginal cultural heritage.
Not making the most of it could cost the government significantly more than the legislation has over the last few weeks.
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