The Finocchiaro CLP Government’s move to amend the Sacred Sites Act to ultimately push through a hotel project at the Darwin Waterfront precinct against traditional owners’ wishes may spark a direct conflict with the Federal Government, as the Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians has vowed to take the matter to Canberra.

The Central Land Council and Northern Land Council joined Larrakia leaders on Friday in calling for the Federal Government to intervene in the matter, after the CLP Government added the Darwin Waterfront Corporation and the Singapore-based hotel developer to the 2004 Authority Certificate for the Waterfront precinct, that will see the proposed hotel pushed through without needing to obtain traditional owners’ approval.

The groups said the CLP’s tactic has led to anger and distrust of the government, putting a declared sacred site adjacent to the hotel at risk.

Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy told the NT Independent on Friday that First Nations peoples’ concerns around sacred sites was “very important”.

“Traditional Owner voices need to be heard on the importance of sacred sites,” she said.

“First Nations engagement and consultation must be genuine and respectful.

“I have heard the concerns of the Larrakia Nation Aboriginal Corporation, the Northern Land Council and the Central Land Council about the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority decision regarding the Darwin Waterfront.

“I will be speaking with my Cabinet colleague Minister Murray Watt, who has responsibility for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act, about the concerns being raised with me.”

The CLP passed amendments to the Sacred Sites Act in May amid claims by the Opposition and crossbench it was doing it to push through the Waterfront hotel project – which it rejected at the time, claiming it would strengthen protections – but the amendments permitted existing authority certificates to have “recorded parties” added, which the government did on Thursday with the Waterfront precinct certificate.

Because it had passed legislation to allow it, the independent Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority was forced to approve the variation, despite the certificate being issued more than 20 years before the 11-storey, 236-room hotel project was proposed.

The area adjacent to the hotel site on the hill is a registered sacred site.

The approval led AAPA board member Rachel Perkins to resign in protest.

CLC chair Warren Williams said on Friday that Ms Perkins was to be commended for taking a “principled stand” and that all AAPA members now “find themselves in an impossible position”.

“The CLP Government has just demonstrated why it can never be trusted to protect our sacred sites,” he said in a statement.

“The Federal Government should clarify the power of the NT Government to make laws to protect our sacred sites and work with our land councils and traditional owners to strengthen heritage protections.”

Mr Williams added that NT Lands and Planning Minister Josh Burgoyne had broken promises he made to the CLC in April, in which he claimed that AAPA certificates would only be transferred if companies were “doing the exact same work”.

But the Waterfront hotel is a new project, Mr Williams said, which is “very different from what Larrakia were consulted about for the 2004 certificate and they have consistently said it will impact their sacred site”.

“You were not a man of your word and you did not make sure the protections you promised were included in the final legislation,” Mr Williams wrote to Mr Burgoyne.

“You have placed our sacred sites and our culture at risk.”

The Central Land Council also raised the Federal Government intervening in 1991 to stop a dam being built north of Alice Springs that would have flooded a sacred Arrernte women’s site, adding it’s “time for the Federal Government to step in again”.

‘Atmosphere of conflicts of interest’

Former Larrakia Development Corporation CEO Nigel Browne told the NT Independent the concerns from Larrakia elders were focused on the nearby sacred site and the need for a clear line of sight to the water as part of a Dreamtime story involving the area.

“This thing will be built metres away from the hill and because it’s 11-storeys high, it interferes with the story associated with that site,” he said.

“This is a registered sacred site; it’s not something that has just been brought up. Just because governments of the past turned the area into a fuel storage site [and for other uses] does not mean it’s not still a sacred site.”

Mr Browne added that Larrakia people were not anti-development and the LDC did consider the project as a “development opportunity” at one time, but later withdrew after discussions with elders concluded it did not “fit with our cultural values”.

“Even if we had have proceeded, we then would have been able to control the development and what shape it takes to ensure it doesn’t impact the site,” he said.

Potential legal options against the government are also being considered, Mr Browne said.

The government has not responded to questions about Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro’s perceived conflict of interest in the matter, given that her husband Sam Burke is the deputy CEO of the Darwin Waterfront Corporation, which has been embroiled in an unresolved separate scandal around possible misuse of public money, mismanaged conflicts of interest and questionable hiring practices.

Mr Browne said the CLP’s handling of the hotel matter and the Sacred Sites Act was “unfortunate”.

“But it’s a symptom of the way in which the CLP Government have cultivated this atmosphere of conflicts of interest and vested interests,” he said.

“As always, because Darwin is such a hotbed for development, Larrakia are the ones who have to take up the fight because we have no other choice.”