By Melanie Burton

MELBOURNE, (Reuters) – The resource-rich Western Australian state will present Wednesday to Parliament a bill that would protect Indigenous heritage in development applications. This comes 18 months after Rio Tinto’s legal destruction of cave sites culturally important to Indigenous people (NYSE:), elicited widespread outrage.

Three years in the making, the bill will now be focused on reaching agreements with Aboriginal groups as well as obtaining prior, informed and full consent for development. The department of the state premier said in a statement.

It was however met with dismay by Aboriginal groups, who protested it, claiming they were not adequately consulted and that it leaves the government to make the final decisions on protecting their heritage.

“It’s a devastating day for Aboriginal heritage,” said Tyronne Garstone, chief executive of the Kimberley Land Council.

“Fundamentally, this Bill will not protect Aboriginal cultural heritage and will continue a pattern of systematic structural racial discrimination against Aboriginal people.”

KLC was among three organizations that released a statement calling on the government and industry to make final decisions about Aboriginal heritage and culture.

The heritage laws of Western Australia have come under fire since Rio Tinto with explicit permission from the State Government destroyed Juukan Gorge rock shelters that provided evidence of continuous human habitation dating back to 46,000 years in order to build an iron ore mine.

These rock shelters contained remnants from a hair belt 4,000 years old that had been used for shelters back in the Ice Age.

Amid a public uproar, three senior executives including then chief executive Jean-Sébastien Jacques left the company and parliament launched a national enquiry that found regulations must be overhauled to better account for consent.