{"id":"F2025L01099","name":"Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection (Murujuga) Declaration 2025","slug":"aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-heritage-protection-murujuga-declaration-2025","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":442962,"registerId":"F2025L01099-fast-fetch-1775957872945","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-12","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection (Murujuga) Declaration 2025","content":"---\nmeta-content-style-type: text/css\nmeta-content-type: application/xhtml+xml; charset=utf-8\n---\n\n?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" standalone=\"no\"?>\n\n \n\n![Commonwealth Coat of Arms of Australia](image.001.jpeg)\n\n \n\nAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection (Murujuga) Declaration 2025\n\nI, Murray Watt, Minister for the Environment and Water, make the following declaration.\n\nDated  12 September  2025 \n\nMurray Watt\n\nMinister for the Environment and Water\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nContents\n\nPart 1—Preliminary matters\n\n1  Name\n\n2  Commencement\n\n3  Authority\n\n4  Definitions\n\nPart 2—Declaration to preserve and protect a significant Aboriginal area\n\n5  Declared area\n\n6  Protection and preservation of the declared area\n\n7  Period of effect\n\n8  Repeal\n\nSchedule 1—Map of declared area\n\n \n\n \n\nPart 1—Preliminary matters\n\n1  Name\n\n  This instrument is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection (Murujuga) Declaration 2025.\n\n2  Commencement\n\n (1)  Each provision of this instrument specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.\n\n \n\n- Commencement information\n- Column 1 Column 2 Column 3\n- Provisions Commencement Date/Details\n- The whole of this instrument 12 months after the date on which this instrument is registered.\n\n\nNote: This table relates only to the provisions of this instrument as originally made. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this instrument.\n\n (2) Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this instrument. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of this instrument.\n\n3  Authority\n\n  This instrument is made under section 10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984.\n\n4  Definitions\n\nNote: A number of expressions used in this instrument are defined in section 3 of the Act, including the following:\n\n1.       Aboriginal\n2.       Aboriginal remains\n\n\n  In this instrument:\n\nAboriginal site means any place of particular significance to Aboriginals where traditions, customs, ceremonies or beliefs are practised or observed in accordance with Ngarda-Ngarli tradition.\n\nAboriginal object means any object or thing of particular significance to Aboriginals in accordance with Ngarda-Ngarli tradition, including but not limited to petroglyphs, rock art, middens, stone arrangements, paintings, artefacts, Aboriginal remains, fish traps, fish increase sites, stone tools, scarred trees, or any other object or thing made, created, used or arranged by Aboriginals in accordance with Ngarda-Ngarli tradition.\n\nAct means the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984.\n\ndeclared area means the area described in section 5 of this instrument.\n\nindustrial gaseous emissions includes but is not limited to ammonia, carbon dioxide, oxides of nitrogen and oxides of sulphur.\n\nMAC means the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation (ABN 51 627 395 274).\n\nPart 2—Declaration to preserve and protect a significant Aboriginal area\n\n5  Declared area\n\n1.     This instrument is made in relation to an area (the declared area) known as Murujuga, Western Australia, which is the area identified in the geographical information systems spatial dataset titled ‘ATSIHP_Declared_Area_Murujuga.shp’ held by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water on 10 September 2025.\n\n\n \n\n1.    Notwithstanding subsection (1), the declared area does not include parts of Dampier Road, Burrup Road and The Esplanade as shown in the spatial dataset referenced in subsection (1).\n\n\nNote:  The map in Schedule 1 illustrates the declared area.\n\n6  Protection and preservation of the declared area\n\n (1) A person must not move, damage, deface, or otherwise disturb an Aboriginal site or Aboriginal object in the declared area.\n\n (2) Subsection (1) does not apply:\n\n (a) to a Traditional Owner or Traditional Custodian acting in accordance with Ngarda-Ngarli tradition;\n\n (b) to emergency services personnel acting in the course of their duties;\n\n (c) where a person has received prior written agreement from the MAC to move, damage, deface or otherwise disturb the Aboriginal site or Aboriginal object.\n\n (3) For the purposes of subsection (1), an Aboriginal site or Aboriginal object is taken not to be moved, damaged, defaced or otherwise disturbed by, or as a result of, industrial gaseous emissions.\n\n \n\nNote:  Under subsection 22(1) of the Act, a person commits an offence if the person engages in conduct that contravenes a provision of a declaration made under Part II of the Act in relation to a significant Aboriginal area.\n\n7  Period of effect\n\n  This instrument has effect for 10 years from the date this instrument is registered.\n\n \n\n8  Repeal\n\n  This instrument is repealed the day after the end of the period specified in section 7 of this instrument.\n\n\n\n\nSchedule 1—Map of declared area\n\n \n\n![The map at Schedule 1 illustrates the declared area, that is a significant Aboriginal area, that is declared for protection and preservation. The area is known as Murujuga in Western Australia.](image.002.jpeg)\n\n \n\n \n\n \n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation aligns with the original purpose of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984, which is to preserve and protect areas of particular significance to Aboriginal people. The declaration follows the standard template for s.10 declarations under the Act. While the specific exclusion for industrial gaseous emissions in s.6(3) narrows the practical protection compared to what might be expected, this does not represent scope creep—rather, it is a deliberate limitation within the existing statutory framework."},"complexity_factors":["Short instrument: only 8 sections plus a schedule","Minimal cross-referencing: only references the parent Act (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984) for definitions","Simple conditional structure: one main prohibition (s.6(1)) with three straightforward exceptions (s.6(2))","Single defined term in the instrument itself ('Aboriginal site', 'Aboriginal object', 'industrial gaseous emissions', 'MAC')—other terms imported from parent Act","No nested exceptions or complex temporal provisions","Geographic scope defined by external spatial dataset rather than complex textual description (s.5(1))","Notable simplicity in the controversial s.6(3) exclusion for industrial emissions—no qualifying conditions or thresholds"],"plain_english_summary":"This declaration creates criminal protection for Aboriginal sites and objects across Murujuga (the Burrup Peninsula), making it unlawful to damage, move, or disturb rock art, tools, middens, burial places and other cultural heritage without written permission from the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation or in an emergency. It lasts 10 years (starting 12 months after registration). Critically, industrial air pollution is excluded from “damage,” allowing emissions from nearby industry to continue despite potential harm to the rock art."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This instrument applies the Minister's declaratory power under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 to designate Murujuga as a protected area (s3 authority noted at s3, see s5). It does not amend the Act's definitions or enforcement regime; it confines protection geographically to the named spatial dataset, sets a delayed start and a 10-year lifespan (ss2,5,7)."},"complexity_factors":["Reliance on a specific spatial dataset to define the declared area (s5) creates technical boundary and evidential questions about dataset currency and accuracy.","Exclusion of parts of named roads from the declared area (s5(2)) requires map-level interpretation and may create edge-case disputes.","Definitions invoke Ngarda-Ngarli tradition without further statutory detail (s4), leaving scope of 'Aboriginal site' and 'Aboriginal object' reliant on cultural fact-finding.","MAC's power to give prior written consent to disturbance introduces private-party discretion affecting developers and operators (s6(2)(c)).","The carve-out that industrial gaseous emissions do not constitute disturbance is a substantive rule that may limit regulatory reach and raise interpretation/compliance issues (s6(3)).","Delayed commencement (12 months after registration) and a fixed 10‑year duration require planning and time-bound compliance adjustments (s2, s7).","Enforcement is by reference to s22 of the Act (note to s6), so penalties and procedural aspects depend on the principal Act rather than this instrument."],"plain_english_summary":"**This declaration identifies *Murujuga* (WA) as a protected Aboriginal area and makes it unlawful to move, damage, deface or otherwise disturb Aboriginal sites or objects there, subject to limited exceptions.** It commences 12 months after registration and remains in force for 10 years (ss2,5,7).\n\nCompliance costs fall on individuals, developers and operators, who must avoid prohibited conduct or obtain written consent from the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation (MAC) for disturbance; Traditional Owners and emergency services are exempt, and industrial gaseous emissions are not treated as disturbance (s6(2),(3)); offences are enforceable under s22 of the Act."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-heritage-protection-murujuga-declaration-2025","history":"/api/acts/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-heritage-protection-murujuga-declaration-2025/history","analysis":"/api/acts/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-heritage-protection-murujuga-declaration-2025/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-heritage-protection-murujuga-declaration-2025/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-heritage-protection-murujuga-declaration-2025/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-heritage-protection-murujuga-declaration-2025/documents"}}