New Women’s and Children’s Hospital (Supplementary Application)

Consultation has concluded. Thanks for your contributions.

Are you a Traditional Owner or Aboriginal party with an interest in the city of Adelaide?

What's being decided?

We want to hear from you about the proposal to construct the New Women’s and Children’s Hospital approximately 400 metres west of the Royal Adelaide Hospital on Port Road, Adelaide.

Your views will help the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs decide whether to authorise potential excavation, damage, disturbance or interference with Aboriginal sites, objects or ancestral remains.

Background

The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs (Minister), who is responsible for the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988 (SA) (Act), has received an application for authorisations under the Act from the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport (Applicant) to enable the construction of the New Women's and Children’s Hospital (New WCH).

Under the Act, authorisations under sections 21 and 23 are required to excavate, uncover, damage, disturb and/or interfere with Aboriginal sites, objects and/or ancestral remains (Aboriginal heritage).

In 2022, the State Government commissioned a review to assess the originally proposed location of the New WCH, which was immediately west of the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH). The review found that the Thebarton Police Barracks, approximately 400 metres west of the RAH, would better meet the ongoing requirements of the New WCH. The state government accepted this recommendation and accordingly the Applicant has sought authorisations under the Act for the additional areas of land now required for construction in this area (Expanded Area).

Get involved

Prior to considering whether to grant the authorisations sought, section 13 of the Act requires the Minister to consult with the State Aboriginal Heritage Committee (Committee), relevant Traditional Owners and any other Aboriginal people or organisations that he considers may have an interest in this matter.

If you are a Traditional Owner or an Aboriginal party with an interest in the matter, please read the Consultation Information Pack and the Consultation Notice and consider the following three questions:

1. Should the authorisations sought be granted to the Applicant? Why or why not? 
2. If the authorisations are granted, what conditions (if any) should be imposed on them? 
3. What should the Minister consider when deciding this application? 

If you wish to learn more, lodge a submission and/or be notified of the Minister’s decision in this matter, please:

• Call us on (08) 8303 0742
• Email your feedback to AAR.CIR@sa.gov.au
• Post your feedback to:
  Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation
  Attorney-General’s Department
  GPO Box 464, ADELAIDE SA 5001

See the Consultation Information Pack or the Consultation Notice for further details on how to lodge a verbal or written submission.

Submissions must be received by Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation (AAR) by Thursday 2 March 2023.

What are the next steps?

Unless otherwise requested, consultee submissions will be forwarded to the Applicant for comment. Once the public consultation period has closed, submissions and the Applicant’s comments about them will be forwarded to the Committee. The Committee’s own views about the application will then be sought.

AAR will collate all feedback and provide its own recommendations to the Minister within a single brief to assist him to make a final decision about the application.

If you are an Aboriginal person with an interest in this matter, please consider making a submission.