Community and Stakeholder Engagement

Risks to Avoid

We have identified the following risks to be avoided:

• An interested, knowledgeable and engaged community group or member is excluded from consultation processes with the result that the value of their enthusiasm and knowledge is not fully realised.

• The views and aspirations of one community group is inappropriately given greater weight than those of another, creating ill-feeling or perceptions of bias.

• A failure to engage appropriately with the community results in heritage values being unrecognised, under-assessed or badly conserved.

• The desire for a participatory approach to management creates unnecessary delays or lack of clarity in decision-making.

• The opinions of laypersons are inappropriately given greater weight in decision making than the opinions of informed experts.

Statutory Framework

Article 5 of the World Heritage Convention stipulates that state parties should endeavour to give World Heritage places ‘a function in the life of the community’. This requires appropriate engagement with the local, state and national ‘communities’.

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Schedule 5 (Reg. 10.01) of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Regulations 2000 includes the management principles that apply at places on the WHL. These include: ‘The management should provide for public consultation on decisions and actions that may have a significant impact on the property’. The Regulations state that this is especially the case in relation to people who have a particular interest in the property and who may be affected by management of the property.

Schedules 5, 5A, and 5B of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Regulations 2000 require that appropriate community consultation inform the management decisions made at heritage places, including consultation with any particular groups having a special interest in a place, or likely to be especially affected by a management plan for a place. This may include the release of a draft of a management plan for public comment.

Non-Statutory Framework

The UNESCO Resource Manual entitled Managing Cultural World Heritage (p. 125) encourages processes at World Heritage places that ‘manage collaboration among different interest groups in the public and private sectors’. It encourages a ‘participatory approach’ to the development of management processes (p 131).

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The Australian Convict Sites Strategic Plan 2017–2020 includes the objective ‘To give the Property a function in the life of the community’. The Strategic Plan includes recommended strategies to ‘Foster community engagement’ with the Australian Convict Sites and to ‘Understand and promote the social and economic value’ of those places.

The WA State Cultural Heritage Policy includes among its strategic objectives: ‘Improve public awareness and appreciation of the state’s heritage through the development of a comprehensive heritage education and learning strategy’.

The WA State Cultural Heritage Policy includes among its strategic objectives: ‘Promote and celebrate the value and diversity of Western Australia’s heritage through partnerships that will enhance community appreciation’.

The WA State Cultural Heritage Policy includes among its strategic objectives: ‘investigate innovative ways, including corporate sponsorship and entrepreneurial activity, of increasing the level of conservation of heritage places so as to retain their cultural significance’.

Article 4.1 of the Burra Charter states that: ‘Conservation should make use of all the knowledge, skills and disciplines which can contribute to the study and care of the place’. This knowledge may derive from experts or laypersons. In relation to ‘social significance’ the views of the relevant community are particularly important.

Article 12 of the Burra Charter stipulates: ‘Conservation, interpretation and management of a place should provide for the participation of people for whom the place has significant associations and meanings, or who have social, spiritual or other cultural responsibilities for the place’.

Article 24.1 of the Burra Charter states: ‘Significant associations between people and a place should be respected, retained and not obscured’. These associations are best identified and understood through effective community engagement.