Overturning aqua ius: Pathways to national law reform

The purpose of this paper is to identify and propose new pathways to reform legal issues affecting Indigenous people in the exercise of their traditional and revitalised rights and interests in water within national and state water regimes. I argue that the exercise of traditional and revitalised laws as expressed in Art 11 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) should be incorporated into Australia’s water laws and policies, in addition to other articles of the Declaration, for example Art 20, for Indigenous peoples to develop economic opportunities in water. These and other relevant international instruments incorporated into Australian law would give expression to the exercise and enjoyment of traditional and revitalised rights to water, economic and cultural property rights and interests, to create substantive pathways for Indigenous First Peoples of Australia.