NSW must change its law to acknowledge that Aboriginal peoples play a crucial role in forest stewardship – and have for thousands of years used fire to keep forests accessible, safe and healthy. That is according to a new report commissioned by the Commonwealth-supported North East NSW Forestry Hub launched today at NSW Parliament House.
The report, Identifying and Overcoming Legal Barriers to Cultural Burning, was led by Dr Michelle McKemey from Melaleuca Environmental, Dr Phillipa McCormack from the University of Adelaide and Oliver Costello from the Jagun Alliance Aboriginal Corporation, who provides a pathway to remove barriers inhibiting the delivery of Aboriginal burning practices state-wide.
“We have a strong belief that we can do better when it comes to managing our native eucalypt forests so that our forests can become healthier, drought resilient, and better protected from catastrophic wildfires,” said Andrew Hurford, Chair of the North East NSW Forestry Hub. “As we all know, the 2019-20 wildfires devastated the flora and fauna within the burnt forests and had a flow-on impact on those who depended on them, including the timber industry.”
“Aboriginal people successfully managed our native forests for many thousands of years, not through benign neglect, but through sophisticated, intelligent and deliberate strategies designed to keep country safe, healthy and productive.”
Andrew Hurford, Chair of the North East NSW Forestry Hub on the importance of traditional owner led fire management in Australia’s native forests.
Mr Hurford said that while “cultural burning” is on everyone’s lips and seen as a potential solution,” the new report “investigates how this fits into our legal framework and whether our structures and laws in NSW support or impede the practice of cultural burning.”
According to the report, “there is widespread recognition that ‘the law’ can be a barrier to cultural burning.” And despite this recognition, “no research to date has sought to specifically and exhaustively identify the barriers that stem from the law; and there is no publicly available, comprehensive analysis of how law hinders cultural fire in NSW.”
Cultural burning, a traditional practice of fire management used by Aboriginal custodians for millennia, is recognised as essential for maintaining the health of many Australian ecosystems. The report highlights the need for legal reforms to empower Aboriginal communities to manage fire in a way that promotes ecological sustainability and community resilience.
The study reveals that these barriers are deeply rooted in complex legal frameworks and decision-making processes that fail to fully acknowledge the value of community-led cultural fire. These frameworks often overlook the broader benefits of cultural burning, such as enhanced biodiversity, reduced bushfire risk, and stronger community ties.
“Diagnosing these barriers is an important step towards implementing the recommendations,” the authors said, adding that the report “identifies legal barriers from legislative instruments and case law, stakeholder interviews, a project workshop and academic and government literature.”
“We have investigated ways in which that idea might direct priorities for legal reform – to support the development of legal and institutional mechanisms that place responsibility for fire management into the hands of cultural fire knowledge holders and experts.”
