Victoria’s Traditional Owner Settlement Act and Indigenous Management of Water Resources: An Improvement on the Native Title Act or More of the Same?

The Traditional Owner Settlement Act 2010 (‘TOS Act’) was enactedin response to the deficiencies of the Native Title Act 1993 (‘NTA’) in recognising the Native Title rights and interests of Victoria’s Traditional Owners.It is widely recognised that the NTA is particularly in adequatewhen it comes to providing for Indigenous participation in water management, s 24HA being most notable in that regard. While the TOS Act delivers on a number of Indigenous aspirations for land and natural resource management, the question arises as to whether or not it also delivers on Indigenous water management aspirations.This article focuses on the nature of water rights recognised under both the NTA and the TOS Act in relation to Victoria, with particular attention paid to procedural rights under s 24HA of the NTA and the Land Use Activity (‘LUA’) regime under the TOS Act.