Abstract

AbstractThe Australian model of water governance is considered one of the most effective, efficient and resilient approaches to designing and implementing water governance. In place since the early 1990s, the Australian approach is a hybrid governance system involving collaborative planning of water resources together with market mechanisms and statutory regulation. However, in implementing the model, successive reforms have yet to completely redress the historical exclusion of Aboriginal peoples from water law frameworks, and have struggled to account for the needs of a healthy and sustainable aquatic environment. In this chapter we examine the trajectory of water law and policy reform in Australia, including two of the most recent developments: the push to intensify water development in the northern Australian White Paper and the collaborative planning approach set in the Water for Victoria policy. Our study of the incremental and evolving Australian water law reforms highlights the difficulty of ensuring fairness in the operation of hybrid governance systems for water regulation, and reveals important lessons for international policy-makers embarking on and implementing water reforms in their own jurisdictions. From its inception, strategic planning for innovative water law reform must be supported by meaningful engagement with Indigenous peoples, and embed Indigenous and environmental values and rights in water planning and governance.

Highlights

  • The Australian approach to water law and governance has been characterised by innovative change that reflects extensive reforms to water law, policy and institutional practice

  • Australia is regarded as a highly innovative water manager—with much of this credential tied to the extensive law reforms initiated under the National Water Initiative in the Murray-Darling Basin

  • While internal debates continue about the level of effectiveness of these reforms in achieving long-term sustainability, many valuable lessons may be drawn from the Australian experience

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Summary

Introduction

The Australian approach to water law and governance has been characterised by innovative change that reflects extensive reforms to water law, policy and institutional practice. We provide an analysis of Australian water law reforms to inform the growing transnational interest in environmental water policy and Indigenous rights to water It details the poor historical environmental management that lead to over-allocation, and the environmental flow regimes that were devised in order to protect environmental values in river systems, some using market mechanisms in the interests of the environment (Ison and Wallis 2011). The Australian experience highlights the difficulty of ensuring fairness in the operation of hybrid governance systems for water regulation; seen in the failure to redress historical and current exclusion of Aboriginal peoples’ rights to water, and the continuing task of meeting the needs of a healthy and sustainable aquatic environment Both of these pose challenges for the ongoing stability and integrity of the Australian model (Lindsay this volume). We argue that strategic planning for innovative reform must be supported by meaningful and constructive engagement with Indigenous peoples in planning and implementation, and embed environmental and Indigenous values in water governance

Water Governance in the Driest Continent
Early Approaches
Introducing the Hybrid Model
Indigenous and Environmental Values in Recent Water Policies
Our North, Our Future
Water for Victoria
Including Indigenous Peoples in Water Governance
Embedding Environmental Values
Findings
Conclusion
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