When Sheryl Hedges took the stage at the recent First Nations Unlimited Leadership Summit, she carried two worlds with her – the rules of bureaucracy and the laws of Country.
“Walking between worlds,” she said, “means holding the tension between probity and obligation, between the machinery of government and the spirit of Country.”
A Walbanga woman from the NSW South Coast, Ms Hedges leads the First Nations Water branch within the Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW). Her portfolio sits at the confluence of politics, environment and justice – and her message was clear: water is not a commodity; it is law, culture and life.
Aqua nullius and the unfinished business of water rights
Australia’s water systems still reflect a colonial fiction. When terra nullius declared the land belonged to no one, aqua nullius followed – severing First Nations peoples’ custodianship of rivers, wetlands and groundwater.
“First Nations people now hold rights to about 40 per cent of land through native title and land rights,” Ms Hedges said. “Yet we own and control less than 0.2 per cent of water across Australia.”
In market terms, that 0.2 per cent equates to roughly $19 million in entitlements within a $16.5 billion industry.
“This,” she told the audience, “is dispossession in practice.”
For Ms Hedges, the imbalance is not only economic but moral: water reform must be about justice – “about returning both rights and responsibilities so that Country can heal and communities can thrive.”
From consultation to shared governance
To that end, Ms Hedges’ branch oversees the Aboriginal Water Entitlements Program, a $100 million initiative to increase First Nations water ownership in the Murray–Darling Basin.
What began years earlier as a bureaucratic exercise has been reshaped under her leadership into a co-governed model.
“We started by listening,” she said.
“Over months of travel to 38 locations and conversations with more than 380 people, we asked Basin First Nations peoples what water justice should look like.
“We heard frustration, mistrust and the call for self-determination through governance, not consultation.”
The result: interim structures led by First Nations voices – an advisory group of Elders, emerging leaders and regional representatives, and a directorate spanning the northern and southern basins.
“While the Commonwealth holds purchased water entitlements in the interim,” she said, “the moral authority and the power to shape the future rest with Basin First Nations voices.”
This year, that collaboration delivered a tangible outcome. On Reconciliation Day (27 May 2025), the Commonwealth completed its first water entitlement purchase for Basin First Nations peoples, buying 200 megalitres from the Macquarie–Wambuul River – the equivalent of 80 Olympic-size pools – with celebrations held in Dubbo on Tubba-Gah Wiradjuri Country.
“It may be a drop in the system,” Ms Hedges said, “but it is the first drop of many.”
For those present, the moment felt “deeply emotional – the first time government commitments around water translated into real, temporal action”.
Assistant Secretary Sheryl Hedges is steering one of the Commonwealth’s most significant shifts in environmental policy – returning water to First Nations hands and rebuilding trust, drop by drop. Image: Courtesy DCCEEW.
Moving at the pace of trust
Ms Hedges’ philosophy – “move at the pace of trust” – runs counter to the tempo of government. “We are conditioned to move quickly – to deliver, to report, to perform,” she said. “But communities do not move at the same pace. Trust can’t be rushed. It grows through consistency, through showing up, even when the cameras have gone.”
That principle shapes her reform work: employing independent facilitators, excluding herself from design discussions to avoid bias, and grounding decisions in community-defined governance.
The process is slow by government standards, but deliberate. “Good engagement,” she said, “is not about ticking boxes; it’s about sharing power and building trust.”
Weaving two knowledge systems
For Ms Hedges, justice in water policy means weaving, not choosing, between two systems.
“When bureaucracy meets culture – and culture meets bureaucracy – something shifts. Decisions become more grounded; policies become more human.”
That weaving, she argues, requires governments to resource First Nations organisations properly, pair cultural science with Western science, and embed Closing the Gap’s Priority Reforms as living practice.
“Enduring governance requires enduring investment,” she said. “Communities can’t build strong governance on shifting sand.”
From justice to balance
As a former Federal Police detective and Army Reserve captain, Ms Hedges knows the weight of accountability. But it is in water that her professional duty and cultural responsibility now converge.
“When we lead with integrity, courage and Country at the centre,” she said, “we don’t just restore water rights – we restore balance, trust and hope for generations to come.”
Her challenge to government and allies alike is straightforward and profound: “Where can you step back so that others can step in? Allyship isn’t generosity – it’s justice.”
If the first 200 megalitres marked the beginning of repair, the future, she says, will depend on whether governments can keep walking with communities – not ahead of them – at the pace of trust.
Words: Liz Ginis, Communications and Marketing Manager, RDA Sydney
Lead image: Macquarie–Wambuul River on Tubba-Gah Wiradjuri Country.
Editor’s note: RDA Sydney acknowledges the ongoing work of First Nations leaders and government agencies to address historic water inequities and strengthen community-led governance. By sharing these insights, we aim to highlight the importance of water justice, self-determination and enduring partnerships that restore balance – environmentally, culturally and economically – across regional NSW and beyond.
