Enabling Cultural objectives in water management Position Statement

1. NIC acknowledges the traditional owners of country; their deep connection with land and water, and the strong spiritual obligation of Aboriginal people to care for country.

2. NIC supports, recognises and values Cultural objectives in water planning and management.

 

3. NIC supports the use, access and management of water for Cultural objectives, within the current water management framework and market systems.

4. NIC supports inclusive processes and partnerships that explore synergies between environmental, socio-economic, critical human needs and Cultural objectives to optimise outcomes for all...

5. There must be no third-party impacts on current water entitlements, their reliability, nor any legal or practical changes to entitlement characteristics, from any initiative or program - including Cultural and environmental flows.

6. Enduring, transparent and accountable governance frameworks must be in place prior to use of public funds to purchase entitlements for any purpose - including Cultural or environmental.

In preparing this Position Statement we have assumed the following definition of Cultural Flows  as outlined in the MDBA’s Cultural Flows: a guide for water managers, as adopted from the Echuca Declaration 2010 being

”water entitlements that are legally and beneficially owned by the Indigenous Nations of a sufficient and adequate quantity and quality to improve the spiritual, cultural, environmental, social and economic conditions of those Nations.  This is our inherent right.”

This above definition was endorsed by representatives from thirty-one Indigenous nations at a joint meeting of the Murray Lower Darling River Indigenous Nations (MLDRIN) and the Northern Basin Aboriginal Nations (NBAN) – The Echuca Declaration, September 2010.

Such a definition was not available at the time of the agreement on the National Water Initiative in 2004.  The NWI was one of the first instruments to explicitly recognise Indigenous rights and interests in national water policy by acknowledging by including indigenous and cultural values within the state public benefit outcomes of the full implementation of the Agreement (23)(iii) and further reiterating the specific needs and values in 25ix).  The NWI also included specific actions in paragraph 52 and 53 being:

52)i): The Parties will provide for indigenous access to water resources, in accordance with relevant Commonwealth, State and Territory legislation, through planning processes that ensure: i) inclusion of indigenous representation in water planning wherever possible;

52 (ii) The Parties will provide for indigenous access to water resources, in accordance with relevant Commonwealth, State and Territory legislation, through planning processes that ensure: ii) water plans will incorporate indigenous social, spiritual and customary objectives and strategies for achieving these objectives wherever they can be developed.

53: Water planning processes will take account of the possible existence of native title rights to water in the catchment or aquifer area. The Parties note that plans may need to allocate water to native title holders following the recognition of native title rights in water under the Commonwealth Native Title Act 1993.