Water is Life: Aboriginal groups seek sole management of Vic water

The Andrews government’s push for treaties with traditional owners includes proposals that risk allocations to local growers.

Traditional control: Members of the Dja Dja Wurrung Aboriginal clan are seeking sole management of the Boort Lakes wetlands.

Irrigators fear their water allocations will be cut if the Victorian Government forges ahead with a plan to grant Victoria’s Aboriginal groups sole management of key wetlands, lakes and river reaches.

The Government’s Water is Life proposal would force Victoria’s water corporations and catchment management authorities to broker partnership agreements with traditional owners, ultimately leading to them gaining sole management of key waterways and wetlands.

Little Lake Boort. Picture: Brett Hartwig

The proposal outlines a five-year plan to “enable traditional owners to self-determine which water and waterway management functions they are most interested in and support a staged transition towards increased power and responsibility, ultimately leading to sole management of specific locations”.

“It is proposed to explore possible (legislation) that would create additional pathways to enable traditional owner organisations to manage water landscapes, ahead of any changes that may arise out of the Victorian Treaty process.”

The plan developed by Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning bureaucrats in partnership with Aboriginal groups states “a key aspect of this possible new legislation could be to enable traditional owner groups to manage water landscapes, … to take on functions such as preparing seasonal watering proposals, managing environmental water delivery”.

But Victorian Farmers Federation water council chairman Andrew Leahy said irrigators risked having their seasonal allocations cut if traditional owners decided to cut back the volume of water held in storages over which they gained control.

“If they do take over Kow Swamp, which they want to do, and lower it like they want, it’ll mean our allocations will be reduced because it can’t hold as much water,” Mr Leahy said.

But Dja Dja Wurrung Corporation chief executive Rodney Carter said sole management meant a more complete management, with traditional owners taking on a “leadership role”.

“It’s about understanding what we can do to have a healthy system that still delivers water to agriculture,” Mr Carter said.

Irrigators also face paying traditional owners water management costs, with the Water is Life plan calling for “water corporations to fund the partnership agreements adequately, so that Traditional Owners are being paid for the services they provide”, which would ultimately be recovered from customers.

Incoming Water Minister Harriet Shing’s office said the Water is Life document was “a consultation draft that is yet to be finalised.

“We will continue to manage water in a way that will not affect the reliability of existing water users’ entitlements nor will irrigators and other private water users be expected to foot the bill, or cross-subsidise, water for Traditional Owners.”