A open letter addressed to the Western Australian government calls for the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Bill, currently before parliament, to be withdrawn.
Signed by academics, religious leaders, artists, cultural heritage experts and members of the legal fraternity, the letter requests new legislation be co-designed with Aboriginal people.
The co-signatories say the Bill breaches commitments under the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
"We have been dominated and controlled by racist and discriminatory policy and legislation," Banjima Elder Slim Parker said.
"It is time to stop. The world is watching."
'Heritage and culture matters'
The proposed legislation was designed to replace the cultural heritage laws that allowed for Rio Tinto's destruction of Juukan Gorge in 2020.
The open letter comes as Traditional Owners in Western Australia asked the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to intervene in the bill's passage through parliament.
Noongar human rights lawyer Hannah McGlade said the Bill is currently being reviewed by the UN committee.
"Prominent Australians stand with us in saying Aboriginal heritage and culture matters," she said.
Dr Hannah McGlade says WA's draft cultural heritage bill is "flawed". Source: Sarah Collard
"This government must stop putting mining and economic interests above the rights of Traditional Owners to protect and care for sacred lands."
Nyikinia Warrwa Traditional Custodian Dr Anne Poelina said that ultimately the new legislation still does not protect cultural heritage.
She's concerned there will be more damage and destruction.
"Parliament should never sign off on a Bill that was designed without proper consultation with Aboriginal people," she said.
"The Bill fails to address basic principles for a national standard to protect heritage and will ultimately fail once federal accreditation comes in.
"It will then be a case of back to the drawing board."
