Mines minister Bill Johnston has denied that trust between the state and public is broken after cultural heritage laws were unceremoniously dumped this week.
Mines minister Bill Johnston has denied that trust between state and public is broken after cultural heritage laws were unceremoniously dumped this week.
Mr Johnston flew into Kalgoorlie on Wednesday morning to attend the third and final day of Diggers & Dealers, in his first media appearance since the state backflipped on new cultural heritage legislation on Tuesday.
Fielding a raft of questions regarding the government's decision to reppeal the laws and the impact it had on traditional owner groups, Mr Johnston said it wasn't his place to speak on their behalf.
"I don't believe the trust is broken between West Australians and the government. I think Premier Roger Cook has provided the sort of leadership the state needs," he said.
PKKP Aboriginal Corporation on Tuesday said the decision was one of the worst for Aboriginal cultural heritage protection the country had seen.
“The PKKP are outraged that they, and Traditional Owners in Western Australia are back to square one, and the Cook Government is reverting to laws that allowed to destruction of Juukan Gorge,” PKKP land and heritage manager Jordan Ralph said at the time.
Mr Johnston couldn't be drawn on whether he thought the backflip was a bad look, instead pointing to the Premier's apology and concession that things were 'not done properly'.
He also indicated that it was exploration companies that had raised concerns regarding the legislation rather than larger mining companies who he said already had relationships with traditional owner groups.
"It's fair to say that many mining companies that are in production already have very strong relationships with their traditional owners," he said.
"Some of the challenges and issues that were being raised by others were not necessarily raised by mining companies, but certainly exploration companies raised a range of issues."
Association of Mining and Exploration Companies had been a vocal supporter of the revision of the 1972 laws but said they needed to be simple enough to understand.
The minister was also asked about the status of a state government review of the Perth Mint, which Mr Johnston took as opportunity to back in the organisation and take aim at opposition leader Shane Love and WA senator Dorinda Cox.
"At some time, critics need to either prove their case or stop talking and this constant negativity towards an important institution in Western Australia can't continue."
The comments come after Northern Star issued a statement this morning calling for the Perth Mint to stay as a state government-owned enterprise.
