Legal experts have weighed in on two pieces of legislation causing significant concern among Western Australia’s regional farming and pastoral communities, at a recent Pastoralists and Graziers Association of WA meeting in York.

HHG Legal managing director Murray Thornhill and senior lawyer Richard Dewar addressed PGA members on the complexities and practical pitfalls of both the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 and the state’s new Firearms Act and Regulations; laws that Thornhill and PGA president Tony Seabrook described as poorly understood, inadequately funded and shambolic in their implementation.

Thornhill shed light on the case of Toodyay farmer Tony Maddox, currently before the courts for undertaking works on a creek crossing on his own property under the 53-year-old heritage legislation. The case, he said, is testing the Act in ways never seen before — and the outcome could have significant implications for landowners across the state.