The Commonwealth is immune from criminal prosecution after allegedly illegally disturbing an Aboriginal sacred site at a former movie set in Kakadu National Park, a court has determined.
The Northern Territory’s Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority filed a criminal charge against the director of Parks Australia in 2020 for carrying out uncertified work at Gunlom – a cascading waterfall that appeared in the movie Crocodile Dundee.
It alleges Parks built a walking track in 2019 to Gunlom’s top pools without permission from the Indigenous custodians.
Parks agreed to remove the offending section of track and apologised to traditional owners for the distress the work caused but pleaded not guilty to the charge….