EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER HERITAGE (INTERIM PROTECTION) REGULATIONS.
Statutory Rules 1985 No. 40 Issued by the Authority of the Minister of State for Aboriginal Affairs.
These regulations are made under Section 32 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage (Interim Protection) Act 1984 (the Act), which provides that the Governor-General may make regulations not inconsistent with the Act prescribing matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Division 3 of the Act provides that a person discovering what are believed to be Aboriginal remains must report the find to the Minister. The Minister when satisfied that the find is Aboriginal remains must consult with relevant Aboriginals with the view to determining the proper action to be taken in relation to them. Where the remains are delivered to the Minister for disposal, he shall return them to an Aboriginal or Aboriginals entitled and willing to accept possession of them.
Paragraph 21(1)(c) of Division 3 of the Act provides for the Minister to transfer the remains to a prescribed authority for safekeeping if there is or are no such Aboriginal or Aboriginals willing to accept them.
No authority has yet been prescribed for the purposes of paragraph 21(1)(c) of the Act and the regulation will prescribe the Museum of Australia as an authority for safekeeping.
Details of the regulation are as follows.
The regulation inserts a new regulation 4 which prescribes for the purposes of paragraph 21(1)(c) of the Act, the Museum of Australia as an authority for safekeeping.