How fairness and people-power can navigate difficult waters

Karen, what’s your personal connection to water, and trying to create better policy?

It actually started with people. Back in my undergrad days studying cognitive social psychology, I discovered a passion for understanding how groups cooperate, how people influence change, and what makes collective decision-making effective. That led me into policy, working in public health within the Commonwealth Government, where I saw firsthand the challenges of creating and implementing good policy, especially when it was controversial, like during the National Drug Strategy, where competing interests are real and the stakes are high.

Then I moved into water. I spent 25 years living and working in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area, in a community where water is everything. Living through the Millennium Drought and the development of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, I saw the power of water to galvanise communities – and to tear them apart. I kept thinking, there must be a better way to bring people together around these critical decisions. In 2011, I was fortunate to receive the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation Rural Women’s Award for NSW, to focus on community voice in water policy, which in many ways became the starting point of this path to Watertrust.

Watertrust Australia says it is as much about the democratic process as actual water policy. What does that mean for you?

We often say at Watertrust that good policy is better when people are genuinely involved in shaping it. Policy decisions about water are often decisions about fairness, about who gets what, who pays, and who decides, and these decisions are better when they reflect a community’s lived experience, needs and aspirations, rather than being handed down in a top-down process. What excites me about our work is that when people are engaged meaningfully, they often bring forward insights and solutions no one else has even thought of yet. We’ve seen this in work with First Nations groups, where cultural perspectives have opened new pathways for water management. We’ve seen it in regional communities, where local knowledge has shaped practical and fair policy options. Water policy is hard, but when a deliberative process is respected, it creates solutions that are not only fairer but stick.

What has been the most difficult part of Watertrust’s mission since you took over?

Real change takes time and persistence. It can be easy to lose sight of the big picture and the value of small, cumulative wins along the way, especially in a space as complex as water policy. Watertrust’s mission is to support lasting change, which requires building trust, demonstrating a different process, and then galvanising people around that change so it can be embedded for the future. Another challenge is convincing people that we don’t have a “dog in the fight.” We’re not selling anything, and we’re not advocating for a specific outcome, we are here to support a better process that enables fair, supported, and practical policy. It’s one of Watertrust’s superpowers: the combination of our people, who bring deep knowledge of water and community, and the gift of philanthropy, which means we have ten years of support, untied to government or any advocacy group, to focus on what matters.

What’s been the organisation’s biggest win?

The Upper Murrumbidgee Region (UMR) project, without a doubt. It’s a complex problem that spans cultural, social, and economic stakeholders and involves multiple governments across Commonwealth, state, energy, and water sectors. Watertrust took a patient, persistent approach, building confidence and trust with government and stakeholders over time. As a result, the Commonwealth Government has now embarked on a deliberative, long-term engagement process in the region. This is exactly the kind of change we set out to support – where communities and decision-makers work together to find fair and durable solutions to complex water challenges. We’re already seeing the benefits of this approach, and it’s exciting to see what is possible when people commit to doing policy differently.