Murray–Darling Basin Aboriginal Water Entitlements Program

The Murray–Darling Basin (Basin) Aboriginal Water Entitlements Program (program) is a $100 million Australian Government investment to increase First Nations water ownership across the Basin.    

The water can support the cultural, social, spiritual, environmental and economic well-being of Basin First Nations communities. 

We have established interim governance to help deliver AWEP 

This allows purchasing to commence while long-term enduring governance arrangements are developed. 

It consists of an Advisory Group and Directorate.  

• Advisory Group: develop policies, principles, and protocols to support decision-making by the Directorate.

• Directorate: make commercial and water purchasing decisions in the best interest of Basin First Nations. 

Together, they embed First Nations leadership, knowledge, and decision-making authority in policy development and commercial decision-making.  

Interim governance will only be in place until the water purchased is transferred to the Basin Enduring Water Holding Arrangement.   

For more information, visit Interim governance of the Murray–Darling Basin Aboriginal Water Entitlements Program - DCCEEW 

An external independent Indigenous recruitment agency was engaged to run the recruitment process.   

This was to ensure a fair, honest, and transparent recruitment process.   

Members were selected to achieve a mix of skills and expertise, made up of Elders, emerging leaders, a gender balance and representation from across the Basin.  

An enduring First Nations led water holding model is being established to manage the water entitlements long-term. 

We are currently working on co-designing this model with Basin First Nations peoples. 

For more information, visit Murray–Darling Basin First Nations enduring water holding arrangements - DCCEEW 

The department currently holds the water under the interim arrangement 

Once an Enduring Water Holding arrangement is in place, ownership will be transferred.  

This is currently being co-designed with Basin First Nations.  

The water stays in the consumptive pool. 

This means it can be used for the Cultural, environmental, social, spiritual and economic well-being of Basin First Nations Peoples

The program is using different ways to purchase the water entitlements.  

Sellers can currently offer their water through the Market Led Limited Tender. 

For more information, visit Murray–Darling Basin Aboriginal Water Entitlements Program water purchasing - DCCEEW 

Each year the water entitlements held by the program receive water allocations 

To decide how the program uses the allocations, careful planning is undertaken with the Advisory Group and Directorate. 

The program prepares an annual watering plan that sets out how the water allocations will be used. 

For more information, visit Murray–Darling Basin Aboriginal Water Entitlements Program water purchasing - DCCEEW 

The department is exploring how to do this under interim governance arrangements.

Consumptive water: Water used for human activities such as urban and town supply, agriculture, irrigation, industry, and domestic purposes. 

Environmental water: Water allocated to sustain ecosystems, maintain riverine environment health, and support biodiversity. 

Cultural water: Echuca Declaration (2007), “Cultural Flows” are water entitlements that are legally and beneficially owned by the Indigenous Nations of a sufficient and adequate quantity and quality to improve the spiritual, cultural, environmental, social and economic conditions of those Indigenous Nations. 

The water recovery programs are government initiatives aimed at acquiring and returning water entitlements to the environment 

These Commonwealth water programs being undertaken in the Murray—Darling Basin include: 

• Voluntary water purchase program for the 450GL (Restoring our Rivers) 

• Bridging the Gap 

• Resilient Rivers Program 

Water purchased by these programs are managed by the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder (CEWH)  

The Cultural flows planning program aims to support Basin First Nations People to plan for and develop the skills needed to access, manage and own water in the Basin. 

 These plans will make it easier to access the water entitlements purchased by the program.