The Joint Standing Committee on Nothern Australia Monday published its final report on the destruction of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural sites. The nearly 350-page report, titled A Way Forward, calls for a new legislative framwork to protect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage.

The Australian Senate ordered the inquiry on June 11, 2020, after the mining company Rio Tinto destroyed several 46,000-year-old caves at the Juukan Gorge in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura peoples (the PKKP) have maintained that they did not have any prior knowledge that the caves would be destroyed. The Committee determined that poor communication with the PKKP was “a key element in the chain of events that led to the destruction of the Jukaan caves.”

Warren Entsch MP called the destruction of the Jukaan caves “a wakeup call that there are serious deficiencies in the protection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage.”

The report sets out eight recommendations for the Australian government to protect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage moving forward, including reviews of old legislation like the Native Title Act of 1993.

The report recommends that the Australian Government “endorse and commit to implementing” a report by the Heritage Chairs of Australia and New Zealand titled Dhawura Ngilan: A Vision for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage in Australia.

The Committee also calls for a the creation of a “model for cultural heritage truth telling.” According to Dhawura Ngilan, “telling the truth means framing these histories in ways that recognise Indigenous perspectives” and allowing Indigenous Australians to speak about damaging events that are not necessarily historically documented.

Entsch expressed his pride at the report’s release and noted that Australia now has a plan to “protect the world’s oldest living culture.”