The Coalition took advice from the same 'rebel' Indigenous group Tanya Plibersek did in stalling a gold mine near the NSW town of Blayney.
The Australian reports now deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley blocked the Mt Panorama/Wahluu go-kart track proposal "for very similar reasons" as Minister Plibersek, with Indigenous leaders in the region arguing the decision paved the way for the erosion of their authority.
Bathurst Local Aboriginal Land Council chief executive Toni-Lee Scott said the Go-Kart track had "no Aboriginal heritage whatsoever", with the Wiradyuri Traditional Owners Central West Aboriginal Corporation (WTOCWAC) advising Ms Ley despite having only four members at the time.
Ms Ley took "our cultural authority and given it to these wannabe fellas"," Ms Scott said, as reported by The Australian.
"Council and the go-kart committee went through all the necessary requirements: environmentalists, archaeologists," Ms Scott said.
"We sent out our Aboriginal heritage officers to do site assessments on this particular site. This site potentially was an old clay-shooting pigeon range. And what had come back was that the site had no Aboriginal heritage whatsoever."
Ms Scott added: "Then, bam, the Bathurst group [WTOCWAC], who consisted of probably four people at that time [arrived]. Their story was that that actual site was a women's site, which was about 20 metres away from a men's initiation site that they claimed was there… we're talking about a site 700 or 800m above sea level. Now what women's site do we know of that's not near water? I don't know any."
The federal government has been criticised for a decision by Minister Plibersek to block an area of the McPhillamys Gold Project on cultural heritage grounds in August, due to the location of its tailings dam.
The Aboriginal protection order was granted after Traditional Owner group WTOCWAC said the site was of cultural significance and would be desecrated by the project.
The project's owner, Regis Resources, was required to consult the Orange Aboriginal Land Council (OLAC) during the assessment process, with OLAC eventually disagreeing with WTOCWAC's view that the area required protection.
Speaking at a meeting on Wednesday, Orange Local Aboriginal Land Council chief executive, Annette Steele, said she had been originally convinced to oppose the project based on information presented to her that she says had since been proven incorrect.
"I signed that document, and I put my hand up and I signed it based on the trust and the information that was given to me at the time," she said.
"[But when] we said to Regis at the time, we need to get access to your site … and we debunked everything that she had said."
Minister Plibersek told Sky News she "listened to the same group of people that … Sussan Ley, listened to when she made a similar decision just down the road".
A spokesperson for Ms Ley told The Australian: "Tanya Plibersek has been dishonestly drawing direct comparisons which is misleading and wrong."
"The decision to reject the Go-Kart track took into account heritage and social and economic considerations."
Last month WTOCWAC members defended their opposition to the tailings dam, with Yanhadarrambal Uncle Jade Flynn, a WTOCWAC member, saying the proposed site contained artefacts while holding great spiritual importance to Wiradjuri people.
"There's 19 artefact scatters and 18 isolated finds," Mr Flynn told the ABC.
