![More than 600 people attended the WAFarmers meeting in Katanning on Monday.
More than 600 people attended the WAFarmers meeting in Katanning on Monday.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/79654153/aeb1cc69-ff71-49c3-a492-b1bcbd743c7f.JPG/r0_307_6000_4000_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Could farmer's freehold land titles extinguish Aboriginal cultural heritage?
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To help determine whether this argument has the potential to stand up in the Federal Court, WAFarmers hopes to raise $30,000 to employ a constitutional lawyer on behalf of the State's farmers.
The announcement was made at the WAFarmers meeting held at the Katanning Leisure Centre on Monday, where more than 600 people packed into the audience to discuss Labor's proposal to ban the live sheep trade and the State's new Aboriginal Cultural Heritage (ACH) Act, which came into effect on July 1.
A motion asking if the audience 'supports the notion that freehold property rights extinguishes cultural heritage' was unanimously carried at the meeting.
WAFarmers chief executive Trevor Whittington said the group had already been informed by several lawyers that farmer's freehold land titles being used as a potential legal offensive against the State's ACH Act could have legs.
Speaking at the meeting, Bailiwick Legal managing director Phil Brunner told the audience finding out the answer is a "worthwhile and valuable exercise", but requires an opinion from a "fairly high profile barrister".
"In legal terms, the real question is, has any cultural heritage been extinguished by the grant of your freehold title?" Mr Brunner said.
"The same as native title has been extinguished by the grant of your freehold title - has that occured in relation to Aboriginal cultural heritage?
"In my personal opinion, there is a serious question to be asked on whether or not Aboriginal cultural heritage can survive the grant of a freehold title.
"That might involve proceedings to commence in the Federal Court to either quash this legislation, or to get a determination from the court that cultural heritage has been extinguished on your freehold title."
WAFarmers president John Hassell said seeking legal advice about the affect of freehold titles on Aboriginal cultural heritage was worthwhile.
"Our view has always been about making this legislation work and about protecting Aboriginal cultural heritage and I'm pretty sure there isn't a farmer here that wants to damage that on their property, but we don't want it to be at our expense to identify it, and at our expense to preserve it," Mr Hassell said.
The other three motions carried at the meeting were the following;
Motion 1: Western Australian farmers call on the Federal government to recognise the importance of live exports to the State's sheep producers and allow the trade to continue.
Motion 2: The State government is to exempt freehold farmland that has been disturbed, developed or cultivated from needing to undertake further surveys once the property has been surveyed.
Motion 3: The State government amend the Act to recognise that intangible cultural heritage identified across freehold farmland will not impose restrictions on land usage.