Colin Boyce (Flynn, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Imagine you are inviting a group to lunch to discuss plans for next year, and this group proposed to charge you $16,000 to cover the cost to attend that lunch. This is exactly what happened to the Banana Shire Council in my electorate of Flynn. The Banana Shire Council tried to have an open dialogue with relevant traditional owners to outline upcoming capital projects for the new financial year but were asked to pay $16,000 for four people to attend a working lunch. This is not acceptable—in fact, it's offensive. Another example in the council's July minutes revealed that for a recent road project budgeted for $90,000, where council had to pay four people's wages for each day plus accommodation and travel, the cost to council having to undertake onsite cultural heritage searches cost more than $30,000. The project, originally budgeted for $90,000, ended up costing the council $120,000 just so the council could comply with the cultural heritage obligations. These expenses mean that every single rate payer in the council shire will have to pay more to cover all these expenses.

Cultural heritage laws are not just affecting the Banana Shire Council; they are affecting many councils and community organisations in the electorate of Flynn and all over the country. Last year the Bruce Highway was closed after a truck carrying ammonium nitrate crashed and exploded near Bororen in my electorate of Flynn. The explosion created a crater about 20 metres in diameter and three metres deep, and the highway was damaged and remained closed for four days for necessary repairs. I was amazed to learn that it was reported that a cultural heritage investigation had to be undertaken before this critical highway could be reopened. To break down the issue, a cultural heritage assessment had to be undertaken on an already established highway before it could be reopened to thousands of people and vehicles that use it every day.

The current native title and cultural heritage laws are not sustainable or practical in their current form, and I'm calling on both federal and state governments to come together and make important reforms to these laws. I am not suggesting for one minute that we abandon cultural heritage or native title—just stop it from becoming a blatant money grab.

See this speech in context