Lands and Planning Minister Josh Burgoyne has flatly rejected Larrakia people’s concerns that a proposed 11-storey hotel in the parking lot of the Darwin Convention Centre at the Waterfront precinct will impact an adjacent registered sacred site, with his comments later criticised by Larrakia owners as ill-informed and unqualified.

The CLP’s move to push the proposed hotel through by amending the Sacred Sites Act to allow for third parties to be added to already existing authority certificates has attracted controversy and is expected to spark a showdown with the Federal Government after Federal Minister for Aboriginal Australians Malarndirri McCarthy said she will be raising the issue in Canberra with the responsible minister.

The CLP changed the Act in May and last week moved to have the Darwin Waterfront Corporation and hotel builder SH Darwin Hotel added to the NT Government’s Waterfront certificate that was first approved in 2004, which was before a hotel was contemplated. The move means the hotel can proceed without the consent of traditional owners who have objected.

Mr Burgoyne’s office refused to release the audio of his comments made at a press conference on Tuesday. The NT Independent obtained the audio through other avenues.

Mr Burgoyne made the remarks after being asked if the government amended the Sacred Sites Act with the intention to push the hotel through without needing its own Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority certificate.

“I want to be very clear here, so the sacred site in question is not going to be affected by the development of the proposed hotel down at the Waterfront,” he said.

“I think that’s really important for everyone to understand.

“It’s really important to understand, I think this hasn’t very clearly been made. The hotel is going to be developed beside the current convention centre at the Waterfront. The sacred site in question is across the road, so they’re two separate areas.”

The Larrakia people are fully aware of where the hotel is proposed to be built and have repeatedly objected to its construction in the convention centre parking lot, stating it will affect a Dreamtime story line involving the adjacent hill across the street down to the water that has been a registered sacred site for many years.

The hotel would block the site from the water “adversely and irrevocably damaging” the storyline.

Nigel Browne, the former CEO of the Larrakia Development Corporation, said Mr Burgoyne has no idea what he is talking about.

“To listen to a bloke who became a pollie, who was a sparky in Alice Springs, say there is no way a Larrakia site will be affected is bollocks,” he said.

“He’s got no qualifications, no knowledge, no right to make that representation.

“The area around the hill is significant to Larrakia people as well, not just the hill.”

Mr Browne added he still has concerns about how the government and the Darwin Waterfront Corporation operated in a “deliberate and calculated” manner to push through the hotel without proper consultation with Larrakia traditional owners.

He said the DWC, which is embroiled in its own unresolved issues involving perceived mismanaged conflicts of interest, misuse of taxpayer money and questionable hiring practices, purposely avoided consultation and instead offered only presentations about the proposed hotel.

“They could then say they gave opportunity to Larrakia to raise concerns, but that’s rubbish,” Mr Browne said.

“There’s nothing political [on our end], it’s cultural. These sacred sites have been here forever and will be here forever more, regardless of the people who come and go.”

Former AAPA board member Rachel Perkins – who resigned after AAPA approved the additional entities being put on the authority certificate last week – told the ABC that the hotel developer had filed for an authority certificate for the site, but then pulled its application “and then shortly after, the laws were changed”.

“You don’t have to be a genius to put two-and-two together to work out the cause and effect of what’s happened here,” she said.

The CLP has denied it changed the Act to push through the hotel.

Independent MLA Justine Davis said the CLP’s tactics had breached the public’s trust.

“This manoeuvre allows the 11-storey hotel to proceed without obtaining traditional owners’ approval, despite knowing this is against traditional owners’ wishes and violates a registered sacred site adjacent to the development,” she said.

“This is not just about one hotel development – it’s about how this government operates.

“They are prepared to change the law to side-line traditional owners, override independent authorities, and put sacred sites at risk to serve commercial interests.

“The Larrakia people are not anti-development; they are pro-respect. The CLP Government has shown them none. When development is allowed to override democracy, and cultural heritage is treated as an inconvenience rather than something to be protected, we all lose.”

Mr Burgoyne said at the press conference on Tuesday that development was the most important thing.

“Hopefully we can see this development happen for the Northern Territory, because at the end of the day, that’s what we’re all here [for],” he said.

“We’re here to ensure that we can make development happen. We can get more people, whether they be visitors or tourists, coming into the Northern Territory, and that’s what our government is all about.”

Mr Browne said the Larrakia people have been supported by all the Territory’s land councils.

“They know if this goes through, a sacred site on their country could be impacted the same way,” he said.

He added discussions were ongoing and a heritage application would likely be filed with the Federal Government shortly.

Ms McCarthy last week said she would be raising the concerns about the Waterfront action with Minister Murray Watt who has responsibility for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act.

Territory Labor said it supports Larrakia Nation and the other land councils, “who have made it clear their concerns are not being respected”.

“[The NT] Labor Opposition welcomes the Federal Government taking this issue seriously, and we support their intervention to ensure sacred sites are properly protected,” Acting Opposition Leader Dheran Young said.