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Media Release

December 9, 2003

Clean safe water – the fundamentals of Human Rights

In the International Year of Fresh Water UniSA’s Hawke Centre is taking a moment to consider the power relationship between water and human rights.

No matter where or who we are we all depend on water. And in an era where this vital universal resource is projected to become more and more scarce the time is right for some serious debate on the issues.

On the International Day of Human Rights December 10 at 5.45 pm at Brookman Hall City East campus, UniSA’s Hawke Centre is proud to present Human Rights…Water Rights a free public debate that will canvass the issues – is water a resource that should be bought and sold, who has rights over water, how do we manage the fair distribution of water around the world, should organisations or individuals profit from the sale of water, how do we bring water to the needy and who should pay?

Chaired by Greg Mackie (founder of the Adelaide Festival of Ideas), the panel of experts for the debate include Minister for the Environment and Conservation and the River Murray, John Hill; Director of the Water Law and Policy Group, UniSA Professor Jennifer McKay; and Tom Trevorrow manager of Camp Coorong, race relations and cultural education centre at Meningie.

Key local issues to be considered as part of the debate include how the management of the River Murray may evolve as a model for global water management especially in light of complex competing issues in a limited fresh water environment. How do we get a measure of Australians’ attitudes to water rights and how do we manage diverse attitudes – those who see access to water a basic human right as opposed to those who believe water is a saleable or tradeable commodity.

Jointly presented by UniSA’s Hawke Centre and the International Human Rights Day SA Planning Committee, the debate promises to provide an entrée into the complex issues that will see water rights and responsibilities an increasingly important issue on the public agenda.

News editors please note - Marking many Australians’ commitment to Reconciliation, an installation of the Sea of Hands in the colors of the Aboriginal flag (red, black, yellow) and the Torres Strait Islander flag (blue, green white) will be undertaken at City East at lunchtime on International Human Rights Day. At the end of the debate Human Rights…Water Rights the Tal-Kin-Jeri dance group from the lower lakes and River Murray area of the Coorong will perform.

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