Protecting Sacred Ground From The Push For A Private Brewery

A prescription for heritage loss

In my decades of practice as a GP, I have learnt that the health of a community depends on so much more than just clinics and hospitals. It depends on our connection to the land and our respect for those who walked this country long before us. Recently, I raised a matter in the Legislative Council that strikes at the very heart of this values-based care. There is a proposal to excise land from the Hall Park Reserve in Mandurah to facilitate the construction of a private brewery. The danger here is visceral. We are talking about land that local Aboriginal elders describe as sacred territory. The risk of ignoring these voices and prioritising a commercial venture over cultural heritage is a stain on our shared history. It is a waiting room of poor outcomes where we lose touch with our identity for the sake of a pint.

When bureaucracy overrides culture

As I sat in Parliament, I had to ask: is the Minister aware that local elders are calling for Indigenous respect to be put before grog? The administrative response was, unfortunately, typical of a government trapped in red tape. I was told that the decision regarding this excision remains pending until survey findings are handed to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs. It is a sterile, process-driven answer to a human problem. In my view, if we cannot treat sacred sites with the reverence they deserve, we are failing our most basic duty of care to the traditional custodians of this land. We have to be the forward-thinkers who stand up to the status quo when it treats the past as a commodity.

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The path forward

The evidence remains clear. Consultation must be genuine, face-to-face, and rooted in an understanding of cultural significance, not just a box-ticking exercise under the Land Administration Act 1997. We cannot afford to lose sites of significance to short-term commercial gains. The frustration felt by the elders is palpable, and it is my responsibility to ensure that these concerns are not buried beneath departmental paperwork. You can review the full details of this exchange in the official Hansard record. If you stand with me in advocating for evidence-based decisions that respect our heritage and our future, I encourage you to join Legalise Cannabis WA today.