Can the Commonwealth wrest control of the ‘waters of the rivers’ of the Murray and Darling from the Basin States?
In drafting the Australian Constitution in the 1890s the framers hammered out the relationship between the proposed Commonwealth and the States. One issue that exercised the minds of the framers for months was the rights over the interstate rivers.
This lecture will outline how the Constitution divided up the rights over the rivers in 1901 and what are the options available to the Commonwealth today.
About the Speaker
Professor John Williams is a constitutional lawyer. He has published widely in the areas of public law and Australian legal history.
