CONSTRUCTION of an Aboriginal Cultural Centre in Bibra Lake has been put on hold to the dismay of some traditional owners who say the delay is “disrespectful”.

The City assigned $12.5 million to the centre in late 2021 and the construction tender was awarded in 2022. 

However, Cockburn acting director of community Anton Lees says the cost of the tender ballooned significantly. 

“Due to ongoing high and rising inflation, building costs and interest rates coupled with a tight labour market, the preferred tender submission was more than $6m higher than the council-endorsed budget,” Mr Lees said. 

“As a result, the tender was unable to be awarded.

“An allocation has been included in the draft 2024-25 Annual Municipal Budget to finalise the centre’s design and commence construction.”

• Corina Abraham

The centre was designed to be a “place of recognition and learning” for local Noongar culture, and a “safe and secure meeting place” for Aboriginal people. 

Its construction is part of the City’s Reconciliation Action Plan and was developed with input from the Cockburn Aboriginal Reference Group.

However, some members of the Cockburn Indigenous community are less than happy with the “disrespectful” postponement. 

Elder and former Reference Group member Corina Abraham says the council needs to be “held accountable” for the delay given its significance to the area’s Indigenous community. 

“We’ve done all this consultation, we’ve done all this work around it, and they just seem to keep disrespecting my people as the Aboriginal community in regard to the cultural centre,” Ms Abraham said. 

 “We’ve fought for so many years and we haven’t even got the concrete slab down.

“You’ve got the wave put in place and you’ve got other things put in place and yet the cultural centre is supposed to be built now. 

“It keeps getting pushed back.” 

Ms Abraham, who was on the ARG before she says she was “ostracised” and removed from the panel, is seriously ill and on palliative care, and is not hopeful she’ll see the centre constructed while she’s still alive. 

“We’re never going to see what we fought and consulted and advocated for, for many, many years,” she said.

“It feels like it’s never going be built.”

by KATHERINE KRAAYVANGER