The Indigenous Water Policy Group (IWPG) will take an Indigenous position on water to the Australian Government’s 2020 Summit that is being held in Canberra on the 19 and 20 April.
Chairperson of the IWPG Joe Ross, who will be attending the Summit on behalf of the group, is looking forward to articulating an Indigenous position on water resource management at the Summit’s forum on Sustainability and Climate Change.
“One of the main objectives of the IWPG is to articulate the need for Indigenous rights, responsibilities and interests in water resources across the north of Australia, so that they will contribute to any water resource management plans and policy reforms,” Mr Ross said.
“The 2020 Summit provides the IWPG with a great opportunity to invoke national dialogue on these issues.”
The IWPG is an initiative that was founded and is supported by the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance (NAILSMA). The group is funded by the National Water Commission through its Raising National Water Standards Program.
Mr Ross will be attending the Summit as part of a delegation from NAILSMA. The Indigenous position on water that Mr Ross will be taking to the 2020 Summit will be presented together with other positions put forward by the NAILSMA delegation. This delegation also includes Peter Yu, Chairperson NAILSMA, and Joe Morrison, Executive Officer NAILSMA.
Mr Morrison said it was imperative that Indigenous people are allocated rights to the consumptive pool, to ensure that we are not further marginalised.
“The 2020 Summit provides an opportunity to contribute to the national dialogue on these issues,” he said.
The NAILSMA discussion paper that will be presented at the 2020 Summit can be downloaded from the NAILSMA website: www.nailsma.org.au