Abstract

The enactment of the Native Title Act 1993 Cth hereinafter the Act is the most significant change that has occurred in Australian property law in the past 27 years A muchcelebrated milestone the Act formally recognized traditional Indigenous legal systems and introduced legal pluralism into Australia s legal system However in practice the native title system remains beset with problems One of the key issues is native title s failure to protect Indigenous water rights Cultural Flows is a policy framework conceived of by Indigenous peoples to further advance Indigenous water rights and to include Indigenous voices in water planning and management This paper proposes the creation of a joint Cultural Flows Commission to assist in implementing Cultural Flows The paper explores how an intergovernmental agreement could be used to establish the Commission and how the Commission could play a vital role in reforming water law and policy to advance Indigenous selfdetermination in Australia Most importantly the Commission would address the many calls for national focus when implementing Cultural Flows