Enduring and persistent injustices in water access in Australia

Abstract

Indigenous-specific water entitlements are currently estimated at less than one hundredth of 1% of Australian water allocations. This minute figure contrasts starkly with the extent of Indigenous land ownership that is currently in excess of one-fifth of Australia’s land mass. Indigenous Australians see clear connections between the past and present in accounting for this skewed distribution of entitlements, and their testimonies indicate an awareness of the enduring effect of historical injustices in the development of Australia water law and policy. This chapter applies concepts derived from political theory to examine this significant case of historical injustice. It argues that there is a poor appreciation within the water sector, and among wider society, of the importance of historical events and structural processes in explaining today’s pattern of access to water. By revealing the dynamics of water allocation over time through the trajectory of water law and policy, the chapter shows how injustices were produced and reproduced during the colonial and state administration eras and the ramifications for achieving justice in the recent and ongoing neoliberal reform era. Indigenous peoples’ rights and interests in water have been systematically and persistently marginalised because reparative or restorative mechanisms have not been established in any of the processes that have made and re-made water law and policy over the course of Australian history.