How could the Voice to parliament benefit our river systems?

While the referendum on a First Nations Voice to parliament is a significant symbol of unity for australia, many people are understandably focused on the practical implications of how it could influence policy-making.

So we figured we’d stick to what we know and ask ourselves the question: how could a Voice to parliament benefit our river systems?

We understand only too well the impact that colonisation has had on rivers across the continent. Particularly on the fertile east coast, a familiar pattern emerges: the initial yet unrelenting hunt for timber, deforestation and clear-felling for pastoral land, heavy agriculture – particularly on floodplains – and eventually residential and urban development.

This has seen a complete transformation our rivers and we all seem to suffer from a form of shifting baseline syndrome: the notion that you accept what you are accustomed to as ‘normal’. In our case, that’s unhealthy rivers.

To give just one example of how much our catchments have changed, geomorphological studies of catchments in QLD show that upper catchment gully erosion has increased by 1000% since the beginning of colonisation owing mostly to the introduction of cattle and alteration of Indigenous fire regimes. The extra sediment not only impacts our rivers but is also contributing to the declining health of our nation's greatest natural asset: The Great Barrier Reef.

The Ngarrindjeri people of the Coorong, where the Murray River spills into the sea, came to an agreement with the south australian government in 2008 in an attempt to save the river.

The Kungun Ngarrindjeri Yunnan (or ‘listening to Ngarrindjeri people speaking’) laid down a path towards healing the lower Murray system. As they say so rightly say "what affects us, will eventually affect them"

The problem? The Ngarrindjeri people currently have no formal avenue for raising concerns about Country, especially beyond state boundaries. Rivers may die from the mouth up but the problems usually start at the top of the catchment.

Similarly, the Murray-Lower Darling Indigenous Nations – representing 24 nations across the inland east – created and agreed upon the Echuca Declaration in 2007 which calls for the restoration of cultural flows to avoid catastrophe in australia's most contested river.

Giving Indigenous Australians a direct line of communication to parliamentarians that make decisions – one that cannot be removed by any future government – is a clear way to help improve river systems and their health through First Nations' custodianship.

Strong connections to Country mean that Voice representatives could push for cultural flows to be restored in the Murray-Darling system, declare the need for riparian corridors (where possible) in all river catchments across the continent or have the means to implore the federal govt to act on initiatives like the Echuca Declaration.

The Voice to parliament won't be perfect but it's a great start in the movement to heal our ailing rivers. The obligations of Traditional Custodians under their Lore to care for Country takes policy beyond the realm of economics and profit.

Politicians and the parliament have failed our rivers for too long. The Voice presents an opportunity to change things for the better.