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GINA Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has been quietly implementing changes this year that will reshape the way it operates. One key development was the acquisition of properties in West Perth so that staff at subsidiaries Roy Hill Holdings and Atlas Iron can be co-located with the parent company. Another key development was the creation of HanRoy, a new entity to coordinate the evaluation of all projects. Led by chief executive group projects Sanjiv Manchanda, HanRoy is currently working on more than half a dozen mining and infrastructure projects. At the same time, Gerhard Veldsman was put in charge of all mining operations, with both men reporting to Hancock chief executive Garry Korte.

DPLH assistant director general of heritage and property services Vaughan Davies delivered the information session for the residents, as state Labor members Darren West and Jessica Shaw helped to answer questions and moderate the discussion. Gidgegannup Progress Association Chairperson Sally Block said the presentation was badly prepared and should had been delivered before the new Act came into place. She said the Perth Hills region had many known Aboriginal cultural heritage sites such as Wooroloo Brook or the Avon and Swan rivers, and many landowners had those sites or tributaries going through their property. “This is going to affect them, and people are concerned about this,” she said.

It was like a scene from a Fellini movie. The setting is a bleak modernist concrete and bitumen tangle intruding into an ancient landscape. The principal characters are a gaggle of self-satisfied politicians performing a ritual with hardly an elector (certainly not a non-Labor one) in sight. But now Fellini strikes. Two men are arguing about their conflicting rights to the once-tribal land on which a freeway behind them has been built. And, watching, one old school news reporter who’s been around long enough to understand the significance of what’s unfolding before him.

Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt has become the latest Albanese Government Cabinet Minister to distance himself from WA’s contentious Aboriginal heritage laws.
In Perth for a meeting of State and Territory agriculture ministers, Mr Watt called time on his press conference on Wednesday amid a flurry of questions about the refreshed Act.
The new regime has caused particular angst and confusion among growers and primary producers who in some cases are now required to consult more closely with local knowledge holders prior to making major changes to or additions to their properties.

Royal Flying Doctor Service (South Eastern Section) Chief Executive Officer Greg Sam said the $4 million boost for NSW comes at a “challenging” time in its history as the RFDS had played a critical role delivering essential healthcare and more than 32,000 Covid vaccinations to remote and vulnerable communities during the pandemic“. Since then, the RFDS has continued to deliver high quality care to rural and remote NSW communities, whilst navigating increasingly difficult economic conditions and rising costs,” Mr Sam said.The $4 million donation in Queensland will contribute to the fit-out of a new Beechcraft King Air 360 aircraft and operations at its Brisbane base which is about to be redeveloped. The Rinehart Medical Foundation also provided a critical $6 million donation to the RFDS at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. The contribution follows Mrs Rinehart’s $5 million gift last week to the Sydney Childrens’ Hospitals Foundation.

Western Australian Transport Minister Rita Saffioti, who is also Deputy Premier, and other officials were preparing to cut the ribbon at the new stretch of the $232million Mitchell Freeway, in Perth, on Sunday. A smoking ceremony had been organised for the event with Whadjak Noongar man Steve Jacobs appointed the honour of carrying it out. The ceremony was abruptly interrupted when another Indigenous man gatecrashed the event with an argument ensuing over who had the right to conduct it. Australia’s richest woman Gina Rinehart in June launched a scathing attack on the legislation, claiming it cause havoc. She predicted the new regulations will cause ‘unintended consequences’, with even the addition of a granny flat to a property being subject to delays. ‘Many are concerned that some elements of this Act have not been consulted on broadly enough,’ Ms Rinehart said in a Brisbane speech. ‘There is a risk of unintended consequences, even property developers are raising concerns, not just the mining industry. ‘These unintended consequences could extend further too, with all West Australians who own a block larger than 1100sq/m needing to be aware of their potential obligations under the Act.

10 July 2023.

On Saturday, Geraldton Mayor Shane Van Styn claimed on his Facebook page the tree-planting event at Wonthella Bush Reserve was “shut down” because of the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act, which came into effect on July 1. Mr Van Styn told The West Australian on Sunday the city had checked online beforehand for Aboriginal heritage at the site and found no problems, but halted the event after one of the local traditional owners turned up and said the reserve was a significant site for her family. However, a member of the family told The West Australian she was not concerned about the planting of the trees but rather what she believed was the renaming of the land to honour Queen Elizabeth II.