Step 2 – CHMP initiation and desktop assessment

Engaging a Heritage Advisor

Now is the time for the Sponsor to lodge a Notice of Intent to prepare a CHMP (NoI) and engage a HA to commence the CHMP.

Sponsors can find a HA on the First Peoples State Relations website. DPC recommends obtaining at least three competitive quotes for your project.

When engaging a HA, in addition to requesting the quotes, include time and cost estimates, and make sure to ask and consider the following:

• Has the HA worked in this area with this RAP before and do they have good professional relations with them?
• Has the HA worked on similar activities in this industry sector before?
• How many CHMPs has the HA had approved and refused?
• How often has the HA had CHMPs approved without resubmissions?
• Does the HA have experience or expertise in assessing impacts on Aboriginal intangible cultural heritage?
• Does the HA have experience with resolving disputes either before or at VCAT?

This can provide the Sponsor with a good indication of the experience, conduct and efficiency of a HA on similar projects within the area.

The Notice of Intent and preliminary Statement of Sensitivity for the activity area

• During the 14-day period for responding to an NoI, the RAP may provide a preliminary Statement of Sensitivity for the activity area (see Appendix 2).

  The purpose of the Statement is to alert Sponsors early to major landscape-scale issues which may impact the conduct of the activity, and which Sponsors can use to plan harm avoidance measures early.

  If any information is known about important cultural landscapes within the activity area; is relevant; and divulged by Traditional Owners; this information should be included in the statement. RAPs may refer to any available source material, including internal discussion within the Traditional Owner group or groups represented by the RAP. These sources can include information gathered from oral histories, existing previous studies (if any), such as regional studies, previous CHMPs, SAHAs, Cultural Values Assessments (CVAs) and any other cultural knowledge about the activity area and important cultural heritage landscapes. This Statement of Sensitivity does not need to be comprehensive – DPC expects the HA to examine this source material in detail during the desktop assessment stage required by sections 60 and 61 of the Regulations. It is just to alert the Sponsor to any major cultural heritage values early.

• If no information about the cultural heritage sensitivity of the activity area is known or can be divulged, a preliminary Statement of Sensitivity of the activity area does not need to be provided.
• If prepared, the RAP should include any preliminary Statement of Sensitivity in its response to the NoI.
• The Statement should be placed at the beginning of the CHMP report.
• The Statement is preliminary. It does not present a definitive assessment of the cultural heritage sensitivity of the activity area.
• The Statement should be revisited at the final CHMP conditions meeting at Step 10, depending on the nature of information revealed during the CHMP preparation, which may result in a final Statement of Sensitivity to be documented in the CHMP. Any difference between the preliminary Statement and final Statement may also help to assess how well the CHMP revealed and dealt with Aboriginal cultural heritage in the activity area.
• The HA may use the Statement to inform the CHMP assessment methods, prepare and complete the desktop assessment and advise whether to recommend a standard assessment in accordance with the Regulations.

The desktop assessment

• Desktop assessments must be compliant with the Regulations and other relevant guidelines, including each of the matters in regulation 61(1).
• It is suggested that a desktop assessment will involve at least one or more consultation meetings with the RAP, as required, including an initial project inception meeting.
• HAs should discuss with RAPs and Traditional Owners if there are Aboriginal intangible values relating to a place present and whether oral history collection is necessary as part of the preparation of the CHMP.

• Where Aboriginal intangible values relating to a place are apparent (see Appendix 1) and are able to be divulged, the first meeting at Step 3 should be used to formalise an Indigenous Data Agreement (IDA), consistent with international best practice, which sets out how Traditional Owner information is to be treated both during and after the CHMP. This will cover Traditional Owner knowledge obtained throughout the CHMP. The IDA does not have to be included in the CHMP document unless it deals with matters also which must be considered under section 61.

  IDAs do not need to be prepared for every CHMP. RAPs may develop generalised, template documents ahead of time which can be applied where an IDA is desirable.

• The desktop assessment will incorporate knowledge obtained from the RAP about relevant important cultural heritage landscapes in addition to the information available about its archaeological significance. This includes information gathered by any SAHAs and CVAs undertaken in the activity area, as well as any additional cultural information volunteered by the RAP during desktop assessment consultation meetings and the preliminary Statement of Sensitivity.

  To be clear, the RAP – and particularly, the Traditional Owners within the RAP – determines what Aboriginal intangible values information can and should be divulged in the CHMP, if any.

  CVAs are done by the RAP for various reasons and purposes which may not be appropriate for a CHMP, or may not consider Aboriginal places (including landscapes) or objects. The degree to which CVAs may be useful for a CHMP will depend on the activity and the RAP involved. In relation to Aboriginal places or objects, CVA findings should be incorporated into the CHMP to inform understandings of important cultural heritage landscapes or the sensitivity of the activity area, where the RAP agrees this is appropriate.

• Cultural values are critical to understanding the significance of the landscape, but may not be known, present or relevant to a particular activity. Where necessary and practical, the desktop assessment should also incorporate and document, where agreed, relevant ethnographic and anthropological information. This may be collected by Traditional Owner-led processes and/or through formal interviews conducted in accordance with proper and ethical anthropological practice.
• The desktop assessment should incorporate a detailed examination and consideration of the geomorphology, including deposition characteristics, of the activity area.
• The desktop assessment should incorporate consideration and documentation of the cumulative impact on Aboriginal cultural heritage of land use in the region surrounding the activity area. This can be gathered by analysing previous CHMPs and land use history documents.
• The desktop assessment should include the preliminary Statement of Sensitivity of the activity area submitted by the RAP with its response to the NoI, if provided.