Reconciliation in water: truth, respect, action

As part of National Reconciliation Week 2025, the Australian Water Association and Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA) hosted a powerful webinar exploring the water sector’s reconciliation journey and the importance of truth-telling, partnerships and cultural leadership.  

Facilitated by WSAA First Nations Lead Taylor Hayward, the panel of the National Reconciliation Week webinar brought together Nina Braid (Yarra Valley Water), Miranda Mahoney (AECOM) and Dan Brown (Veolia) to reflect on how far the sector has come, the work still required, and the responsibility all organisations share in building culturally safe, inclusive and equitable workplaces.

As Taylor noted at the outset, this year’s National Reconciliation Week theme, Bridging Now to Next, set the tone for a conversation focused on truth-telling, respect and shared responsibility for advancing reconciliation across the water sector. 

“The theme for this year’s Reconciliation Week causes us to think about where we have come from, what things did we do well or not so well in the past? What are we working on in the present that is positive? And what should we be striving for as a water sector into the future?” he said. 

Understanding the past 

Bridging Now to Next touched on the ongoing connection between our past, present and future, calling on Australians to step forward, while allowing past lessons to guide us.  

Allowing lessons from the past to guide this work means making space for truth telling, Dan said.  

"I tend to learn from the past and look forward. That's my philosophy. But we need to make sure we understand the truth of the past. The essential part of what we need to do is connected to that truth-telling story,” he said.  

Nina highlighted the work being done in Canada as a great example of meaningful reconciliation in action, all founded on a platform of truth telling. 

"Truth telling is uncomfortable. But we don't learn about the truth of the colonisation of Australia when we're at school. It's confronting. People hearing our histories for the first time is hard for them, but we're reliving it daily,” she said. 

"One thing I found really fascinating when visiting a water utility in Canada was their treaty negotiations and how that was informing their work. 

"The utility actually leases the land off the Traditional Owners as part of that negotiation and trains and employs them to run the treatment plant. I was blown away. 

“It's a totally different perspective on what can be achieved when you have platforms in place, and you have truth telling. The truth telling also builds trust between people and that's really important for us to be able to move forward in a more reconciled Australia." 

Sharing the load  

Discussing some of the difficulties currently facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people working in water, Miranda said the ‘cultural load’ in reconciliation is not actually cultural – it’s colonial.  

"We as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people do need to work on reconciliation, but we also need allies to help us, too. As employees, we carry a ‘load’ of extra work required of us because we are Aboriginal,” she said.  

“A friend of mine at work calls this ‘colonial load’, rather than ‘cultural load’, which is how it’s more commonly known. It's actually not the ‘load’ of being connected culturally that’s hard, it's actually the ‘load’ of working with colonisers." 

Miranda said working in water as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person often comes with community expectations that make projects personal, adding to the load of the work.  

“As an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander employee, if you are working in a community and something goes wrong, it is actually quite personal to you,” she said. 

“There are likely people you know in that community, and if something goes wrong it can be quite hard to recover from that. The work becomes really personal, and it is not just a job." 

Future focus  

When asked to name one significant step the sector could take towards reconciliation, Nina recommended all water professionals consult more regularly with Aunty Google, but also aim for appropriately compensated engagement.  

"Take the time to get to know the Traditional Custodians and Owners of the land where your organisation operates. I always refer to this as asking Aunty Google. Aunty Google can tell you lots of things,” she said.  

"You shouldn't go in to engage and think you're getting that for free. People need to be compensated for the knowledge they're sharing. Build the expense into your project costs because it's really important." 

Miranda suggested continued support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander programs that support youth.  

"A small step is to engage with your organisation’s RAP and really understand the purpose of it,” she said.  

“But I’d also really like to see continued and increased support for programs that support younger mob to enter the water sector, as well, so we have more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices.” 

And Dan reflected on his son’s wellbeing, the next generation, and suggested support programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander veterans.  

“Acknowledgement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander veterans groups who have defended our way of life. When we talk about history, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are some of the worst treated people, but they’re out there serving, too,” he said.  

“I speak this way because I have a son in the army and I want to make sure that he is well supported, both culturally and in his professional life.” 

Interested in learning more about how the water sector can lean into supporting reconciliation? You can check out the full discussion here, with the webinar soon to be available on the Australian Water Association's digital library.