First Nations engagement in water policy reform
Australia's existing water policy and management regimes do not always easily align with and integrate First Nations’ water rights, economic development aspirations or responsibilities to Country. In fact, when it comes to Australia's inland waters, First Nations people have fewer rights and less engagement in decision-making compared with their established land and sea rights.
Over the next three years, significant water policy reforms are planned in Australia. This includes reviews of the Commonwealth Water Act and Murray Darling Basin Plan, a refresh of the National Water Initiative and other reforms by states and territories such as the introduction of a new Water Act in the Northern Territory.
For decades First Nations leaders have emphasised the importance of water rights in First Nations' self-determination, development and nation building. The current water reform context alongside movement towards an Indigenous Voice and Commonwealth, state and territory Treaties provides an unparalleled opportunity for a step change in First Nations' influence in water policy and management.
Engaging with First Nations’ voices on water policy reform
Watertrust has supported the establishment and work of an interim working group of First Nations leaders to discuss how First Nations peoples can have a more substantive and informed influence on policy decisions that affect their water rights and interests. This working group shaped the agendas for two national roundtables.
In December 2022, the first roundtable brought together 24 Indigenous leaders from across Australia, the Commonwealth Minister for Environment and Water, the Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, staff from her office and officials from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW). It identified the need for a common standard for First Nations’ participation in water decision-making through upcoming reforms.
The second roundtable in May 2023 was co-hosted by the Australian National University, the National Native Title Council and the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation. It involved more than 80 people from across Australia with expertise in First Nations water rights and its intersection with public policy and water management. This roundtable recommended that a more formal interim working group be convened to facilitate the development of a First Nations-led, nationally-consistent approach to First Nations’ water rights and engagement in water reform.
While our role so far has been as independent convenor and assistant in preparing background documents, Watertrust has been invited to continue to support the working group to achieve its ambitions.
First Nations leaders have expressed a sense of urgency to not miss the opportunities to influence these policy reform processes.