For more than 65,000 years, First Nations people have cared for Country and kept rivers and waterways healthy and flowing.
But decades of mismanagement and over-extraction have left the lifeblood of this country polluted, diverted, and dried up.
The state of Australia’s rivers and waterways is not just an environmental crisis. It is an enormous injustice to First Nations people who rely on healthy water flowing for healthy people and culture.
First Nations communities along the Murray-Darling Basin have developed a new concept of water management called ‘cultural flows’ that will not only restore life to Country but also justice to First Nations communities.
The Tati Tati First Nations community in north-west Victoria has developed a plan to implement cultural flows for the first time at a culturally significant site called Margooya Lagoon or Tol Tol.
For the plan to become a reality and to achieve water justice, the Tati Tati First Nations people of the Murray River need the Victorian government to deliver water and the rights to manage that water.
You can amplify their calls by calling on the Victorian Minister for Water, Lisa Neville to:
- increase First Nations access to water entitlements and;
- advance meaningful opportunities for First Nations peoples in water management processes and governance of Country in the Murray-Darling Basin.