the future of the Yarra ProPosals for a Yarra river Protection act the future of the Yarra A about environmental Justice australia environmental Justice australia (formerly the environment Defenders office, Victoria) is a not-for-profit public interest legal practice. funded by donations and independent of government and corporate funding, our legal team combines a passion for justice with technical expertise and a practical understanding of the legal system to protect our environment. We act as advisers and legal representatives to the environment movement, pursuing court cases to protect our shared environment. We work with community-based environment groups, regional and state environmental organisations, and larger environmental NGos. We also provide strategic and legal support to their campaigns to address climate change, protect nature and defend the rights of communities to a healthy environment. While we seek to give the community a powerful voice in court, we also recognise that court cases alone will not be enough. that’s why we campaign to improve our legal system. We defend existing, hard-won environmental protections from attack. at the same time, we pursue new and innovative solutions to fill the gaps and fix the failures in our legal system to clear a path for a more just and sustainable world. envirojustice.org.au about the Yarra riverkeePer association The Yarra Riverkeeper Association is the voice of the River. Over the past ten years we have established ourselves as the credible community advocate for the Yarra. We tell the river’s story, highlighting its wonders and its challenges. We monitor its health and activities affecting it. We run educational events and river tours, and give informative presentations to schools, community groups, the authorities and businesses. We work closely with numerous government bodies and NGOs and advocate directly and through the news media for river care. You can join the Yarra rIverkeeper association at yarrariver.org.au funDeD bY Out thanks to the Eldon & Anne Foote Trust (Innovation Grant 2015), PRL Charitable Fund Account and the Heath Cosgrove Charitable Fund Account of the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation. more information Bruce Lindsay, Lawyer, Environmental Justice Australia T: 03 8341 3100 E: [email protected] Andrew Kelly, Yarra Riverkeeper T: 0434 892 772 E: [email protected] Acknowledgements All photos by Andrew Kelly except for pages 2–3 Ian Penrose and page 13 Josh Griffiths (CESAR). Infographics: pages 4–5 by Jane Christensen, pages 8–9 by Yukiyoshi Kamimura www.kamimuradesign.com.Illustration page 7 by Sarah Firth. Design by Lorna Hendry, editing and layout by Mandy Johnson. The Yarra River system is a treasured asset for Victorians and we have the opportunity to provide a transformative vision for it and the means of achieving that vision. contents Report Summary 2 1. Introduction 6 2. Context 6 2.1 The governance of the Yarra River 6 2.2 The ‘law of the river’ 7 2.3 The ecology of the Yarra River 10 2.4 The communities along the Yarra River 10 3. A framework for the Act: landscape governance 11 3.1 Objects of the Act and articulation of a vision 11 3.2 Principles of the Act 13 4. To whom is the Act to be applied and how? 15 4.3 To whom? 15 4.4 To be applied where? 15 5. The operational framework of the Act 16 5.1 River health targets 16 5.2 A Yarra River Plan 19 6. Institutional arrangements for river health 22 6.1 The Yarra River Trust 22 6.2 The Yarra River Panel 24 6.3 The River Health Monitor 24 7. Funding, spending and investment 25 8. Enforcement 26 9. Transitional arrangements 27 10. Conclusion 27 Endnotes 28 Appendix rePort summarY the Act should include unique processes to facilitate public participation in decision-making and policy- The Yarra River and its valley are iconic and treasured making. We propose an innovative and manageable assets and places for the communities of Victoria and architecture for the Act, reflective of best practice in in particular Melbourne, the Yarra Valley and Yarra integrated river management, that will form a model for Ranges. For Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung, the Yarra management of other rivers in Victoria. River has a particular significance extending back to ancient times. It provides a natural green corridor Governance of the Yarra River is characterised by through Melbourne and supports a diversity of life multiple public agency responsibilities, significant including platypus, native fish, and other special plants fragmentation, and limited coordination across public and animals. The importance of the Yarra River as a entities. In an urban waterway which is subject to a vast human place means we need to manage it for human array of uses including land use and development, water values as well as ecological values. extraction, recreation, public facilities management, biodiversity management, urban water supply, transport, In 2014, the Victorian Government made a and emergency services it is not surprising that there commitment to implement a Yarra River Protection is some level of fragmentation of responsibilities and Act and Yarra River Trust. This paper provides tasks. However, this can, and must, be improved. proposals for the Act and Trust which have been developed through a participatory design process It would be unwieldy and impractical to establish an convened by Environmental Justice Australia (EJA) authority and governance arrangements supplanting all and the Yarra Riverkeeper Association (YRKA) the various authorities currently involved in relevant involving community groups and environmental management activities relating to the river. The better NGOs concerned with the Yarra and its tributaries. approach is to establish management arrangements that: The Act needs to establish more than a set of land- • establish a binding framework of controls and use planning tools. The Act should include measures targets on existing authorities and their regulatory designed to maximise the achievement of river health systems; outcomes, the river’s public values, and accountability of performance. In recognition of the importance • work with agencies, councils, and stakeholders to placed on the Yarra River by the Victorian community, implement controls and standards through their regulatory schemes (planning, water management, 2 the future of the Yarra the original Wurrundjeri name for the river is Birrrarung which means ‘river of mists and shadows’. If you see the river on a cool morning, it’s easy to see why the river’s traditional owners gave it that name. the name ‘Yarra’ comes from an early surveyor John Wedge who pointed to a cascading fall on the lower river and asked the local lands and catchment management, etc), in a people what it was called. they replied, collaborative manner and over a given timeframe; “yarro yarro” which means “It flows”. Wedge and misunderstood this as the name of the river. • involve community, private and nongovernmental actors (civil society), through deliberative mechanisms, in planning and decision-making cycles. We propose three bodies dedicated to Yarra River Key elements of the Act are: governance. These would be: • A long-term vision for the Yarra River which helps • the Yarra River Trust which would be a ‘champion’ to govern the community’s aspirations over a 50- for the river. It would be responsible for planning and to 100-year period. This vision recognises that oversight of long-term protection and restoration, ecological processes function over extended periods including collaboration with and coordination of and cycles. public and nongovernmental actors; • Long-term river health targets which provide an • the Yarra River Panel which would be a mechanism expression of goals to be achieved over a determined both for advice and for public participation in timeframe. decision-making and governance. Its key role, is to be a source of information and knowledge to the • A statutory Yarra River Plan which provides the Trust but also a key conduit between the Trust, public medium-term, binding and reviewable framework authorities, communities and organisations, a role it intended to build progress toward targets and goals. carries out through activities such as public inquiries, consultations or roundtables; and • Management and governance powers vested in the Yarra River Trust, as well as obligations on public • the Yarra River Monitor which would be an authorities managing aspects of the Yarra River, to independent ‘auditor’ of the state of the river and of implement plans and long-term targets. public authorities’ commitments to their obligations under the Act and the Plan. the future of the Yarra 3 The Yarra River Protection Act: Regulatory framework The future of the Yarra Objects of the Act Principles Key elements of the Act • A healthy river • Eective • Landscape scale management that • Accountable coordination manages the river as a whole management • Restoration • Public benefits, • People and nature • A long-term vision for the Yarra River. including Aboriginal • Long-term river health targets that must uses and values be achieved by all agencies Main features: • A statutory Yarra River Plan with a clear • Long-term river health pathway toward targets and goals. targets • A Yarra River Trust that manages and • The Yarra River Plan champions the river. • Enforcement and integrity • Public participation Where the Act applies: The waters, bed, banks, and 5 20 50 100 connected wetlands and main tributaries of the Yarra River. 5 years: 20