Aboriginal Congress of South Australia Inc

The Aboriginal Congress of SA Inc (Congress) was established to maintain a working relationship with the Native Title Representative Body for SA with respect to native title issues on behalf of all Traditional Owner Groups.

The membership of Congress is made up of almost all Traditional Owner Groups in South Australia totalling 20 Groups .

Congress has an Executive Committee (CEC) that has two members of each Traditional Owner Group taking its membership to 40 people.

Protecting Aboriginal Heritage

Promoting and protecting Aboriginal Heritage is a key concern for Congress. Over the last 3 years, the Aboriginal Heritage Sub-Committee of Congress has been meeting with the Ministerial appointed State Aboriginal Heritage Committee. The meetings have been held in accordance with a Working Relationship Agreement signed by both parties in July 2007, which provides a framework for discussions on Aboriginal Heritage and Native Title. The two heritage committees refer to the collective forum as the Joint Working Group.

Review of the Aboriginal Heritage Act

In December 2008, the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation announced a State Government review of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988. The guiding principles for the review are:

  • recognising Aboriginal custodianship of cultural heritage;
  • creating a strong framework for long term protection and management of Aboriginal heritage;
  • enabling Aboriginal negotiation of agreements about heritage;
  • embedding Aboriginal heritage considerations into the development and land management process;
  • creating timely and efficient processes;
  • creating certainty for all parties;
  • complementing the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth).

The scoping paper and further information on the State Governmen's review of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988 is available from website of the Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation Division, Department of Premier and Cabinet at www.aboriginalaffairs.sa.gov.au/ahaReview/ss_home.html

Response to Review of AHA

In early 2009, the Joint Working Group held a 5 day workshop to consider a response to the review of the Aboriginal Heritage Act. At the workshop, a joint discussion paper was developed to provide and demonstrate leadership to the Aboriginal community. The proposes a number of changes to the Aboriginal Heritage Act to strengthen the protection of heritage in this State. Four key changes proposed are:

  • establishing an Independent Aboriginal Authority to administer Aboriginal Heritage at a Statewide level;
  • developing a planning framework for Aboriginal Heritage decision making and management;
  • recognition of Local Representative Aboriginal Organisations to make decisions about Heritage;
  • widening the definition of Aboriginal Heritage.

 

The full version of the Joint Working Group's discussion paper and a copy of a presentation on the discussion paper are available by clicking on the following links:

Consultation meetings for the review of the Aboriginal Heritage Act are being held throughout South Australia from June to August 2009. Further information on these meetings is available from the State Government's website on the review of the Aboriginal Heritage Act (click here).