The Murray-Darling Conservation Alliance (the Alliance) is a national voice for the rivers, wetlands and wildlife of the Murray-Darling Basin. Our members include conservation groups in every Basin state, representing half a million people in rural communities and east coast cities. Each group has been advocating for the environment at the state level for more than 50 years. Together we have a shared vision for healthy inland rivers.
As governments work to recognise human rights principles included in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), transfer of decision-making authority will be an ongoing component. UNDRIP sets out global rights and standards for the realisation and protection of self-determination which includes the right to autonomy or self-government, as well as the free pursuit of economic, social and cultural development.
It is critical to recognise these imperatives clearly (autonomy, sovereignty, self-determination and stewardship) because they reject uniform incorporation of Indigenous nations into the cultural and legal paradigms of the settler state. In other words, Indigenous nations retain a right to exercise sovereignty and political practices, structures and institutions based on Indigenous ontologies – ways of understanding the world which are often incommensurable with settler ontologies.1 This sovereignty can be expressed apart from or within settler governance structures.
Read the full submission from the Murray-Darling Conservation Alliance below or download it here>>