Aborigines write to Bridget Archer MP, Tasmania’s Aboriginal Affairs Minister, to state that the
Government’s continued refusal to grant Aboriginal people the same heritage rights as white
people amounts to racial discrimination.
The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre (TAC), on behalf of the Tasmanian Aboriginal community, has written to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs stating that Tasmania’s draft Aboriginal Heritage Bill 2026 entrenches racial discrimination by refusing to recognise Aboriginal ownership and authority over Aboriginal heritage.
The draft Bill maintains a discriminatory double standard where white Tasmanians are recognised as the owners of their heritage, while Aboriginal people are treated merely as “stakeholders” or “custodians” of heritage created by their own ancestors.
Campaign Coordinator Nala Mansell said the Government would never treat white heritage owners the way it treats Aboriginal people.
“When it comes to European colonial heritage, the Government recognises ownership and provides strong protections, whereas for Aboriginal cultural heritage, the new Bill maintains weaker protections, fails to recognise our ownership and authority and amounts to weaker legislation than that which governs European heritage,” said Ms Mansell.
“Yet when it comes to Aboriginal heritage, Aboriginal people are denied the same rights over heritage created by our own ancestors.”
The draft Bill continues powers allowing Government acquisition and control of Aboriginal heritage while no equivalent powers exist under Tasmania’s Historic Cultural Heritage laws to compulsorily acquire European heritage from its owners.
“Maintaining one system of ownership and authority for European heritage while denying those same rights in relation to Aboriginal heritage is racial discrimination,” Ms Mansell said. The letter also accuses the Liberal Government of refusing to transfer real power to Aboriginal people despite publicly describing the legislation as “Aboriginal-led”.
The Government advertised Expressions of Interest for a Government-appointed Aboriginal Heritage advisory body before consultation on the Bill had even concluded, proving that the structure and direction of the system had already been determined and undermining its own efforts to consult.
The TAC says the Bill’s proposed Aboriginal Heritage Council remains an advisory-only body while Government and Ministers retain final authority over Aboriginal heritage decisions, including powers allowing destruction approvals.
The letter states the TAC has been unable to find evidence that Tasmania’s Aboriginal heritage laws have ever been used by the Liberal Government to protect Aboriginal heritage, only to approve its destruction. In the past three years alone, more than 80 permits to destroy Aboriginal heritage have reportedly been approved by the Minister.
The TAC argues the Bill fails to deliver genuine reform because it continues:
- Government and Ministerial control over Aboriginal heritage
- Permit systems allowing the destruction of Aboriginal heritage
- Ministerial override and bypass powers
- Government appointment of Aboriginal advisory bodies
- Government acquisition powers over Aboriginal heritage
- Failure to protect intangible heritage and cultural landscapes
The TAC has called on the Tasmanian Government to immediately halt the Bill and begin a genuine Aboriginal-led process that legally recognises Aboriginal ownership of Aboriginal heritage and transfers final decision-making authority to Aboriginal people.
“Changing administrative structures without recognising Aboriginal ownership and authority is not reform,” Ms Mansell said. “Aboriginal people are being denied rights over our own heritage that are automatically recognised when it comes to white heritage in this state.”
