Fairness and Equity in Water Policy – a PCT National Webinar
AN INVITATION
‘Fairness and Equity in Water Policy’ – A PCT National Webinar presented with Watertrust 
In the Peter Cullen spirit of meaningful conversation, robust debate and capacity building, we are pleased to present our third National Webinar for 2026, “Fairness and Equity in Water Policy.
Our panelists will share insights into fairness, equity and justice in water policy, the challenge competing fairness perspectives create for water decision making, and some ideas on changes to decision practice, and will include Dr Rebecca Nelson, a Professor of Law and Director of the Melbourne Centre for Law and the Environment at Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne and Graham Long, Principal at Compass Resource Management in Vancouver, Canada. Scroll down to meet them.
Key Outcomes for Participants: Participants go away with a deeper understanding of:
- Why fairness matters (and why what’s fair looks different from different perspectives);
- What sort of leadership behaviours and actions are needed and what needs to change to deliver fairness in our practice and in our systems; and
- The tools, practices and processes that can support fair and equitable outcomes in water policy reform.
We do hope you can join us.
EVENT DETAILS – 2026 COURAGEOUS CONVERSATION #3
What: ‘Fairness and equity in water policy – and why fairness matters’
Date: Wednesday 21st October
Time: 12.30-2.00pm AEDT (note daylight savings time – please adjust for local time)
Where: Online via Teams (the link to join will be shared when you register)
Please note local times:
- AWST – 9.30-11.00am
- ACST – 11.00-12.30pm
- AEST – 11.30am-1.00pm
- ACDT – 12.00-1.30pm
MEET OUR PANELISTS
Rebecca Nelson is a Professor of Law and Director of the Melbourne Centre for Law and the Environment at Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne.
Her research focuses on environmental and natural resources laws, especially groundwater law, with an emphasis on the regulation of cumulative environmental effects. Bec was an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow (2018-2021), the IAH (Australia)/National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training Distinguished Lecturer (2016) and the Law Council of Australia’s Young Environmental Lawyer of the Year (2014). Before her current role, she led the Comparative Groundwater Law and Policy Program, a collaborative initiative between Water in the West at Stanford University and the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.
Bec holds a Doctor of the Science of Law from Stanford University, where her dissertation focused on regulating conflicts between groundwater use, groundwater-dependent ecosystems and rights to connected surface water. She also holds degrees in environmental engineering and law from the University of Melbourne. She is a member of the Commonwealth Inspector-General for Water Compliance’s Sustainable Diversion Limit Advisory Panel.
Graham Long is a Principal at Compass Resource Management in Vancouver, Canada.
For more than 25 years he has designed and facilitated deliberative processes for contested water and environmental decisions in Canada, the United States and Australia. Much of his Canadian work has been in British Columbia’s water use planning and licence review processes for hydro operations, where environmental flows, fish and community and First Nations interests have to be weighed against broader social goods such as power generation.
In Australia he works with Watertrust Australia, and has been involved in initiatives relating to the Mount Lofty Ranges, the Lower Balonne and the Upper Murrumbidgee. Alongside the process work he builds the decision tools that let people test options and see the trade-offs for themselves. He is a co-author of Structured Decision Making: A Practical Guide to Environmental Management Choices (Wiley-Blackwell), and holds a doctorate in engineering from the University of Surrey.
Karen Hutchinson is the Chief Executive of Watertrust Australia Ltd, an organisation founded by Philanthropy to challenge and improve how water policy is made and implemented in Australia. An experienced leader with a passion for leading change through people, Karen has demonstrated experience working with diverse stakeholders to reach collaborative solutions on complex policy issues.
Karen has previously worked for the Commonwealth government in the areas of national health policy, ethics and drug strategy. Before returning to Canberra in 2024, Karen spent 25 years living and working in regional Australia where she played a foundational role in the establishment of the One Basin Cooperative Research Centre, and was a member of the Basin Community Committee providing advice to the Murray Darling Basin Authority (2013-2020). In her previous role as Executive Director, Strategic Partnerships for Murrumbidgee Irrigation Ltd, she delivered strategic business initiatives in culture leadership, reconciliation, and behavioural safety.
Karen is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, has a certificate in engagement from the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) and a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Cognitive Social Psychology from the ANU. She was also awarded the Rural Woman of the Year for NSW in 2011.
Kane Aldridge – Kane’s career has focused on facilitating partnerships and relationships between government, industry, communities and academia for addressing complex water management issues. He is currently a Principal at Watertrust Australia where he is fostering inclusive approaches to water planning in both urban and regional settings.
Prior to joining Watertrust, Kane’s focus was on the water science-policy interface. He joined Watertrust from the Goyder Institute for Water Research, where he was Director and successfully developed it as a leading collaborative water research partnership within Australia. Prior to that, he had a joint position between the South Australian Government and The University of Adelaide, where he provided scientific knowledge to inform water policies of the Murray–Darling Basin Plan.
Kane was also previously a Research Fellow at The University of Adelaide, worked at SA Water, as a consultant within the private sector, at the Max Planck Institute (Germany) and at the University of British Columbia (Canada). He has a PhD and Bachelor of Environment Science (Honours).
Emily Jenke – Emily Jenke has deep experience in water policy, regional communities and deliberative democracy. She has worked extensively with water agencies, governments, irrigators and regional communities, helping people navigate challenging complex and often contested decisions about water security, allocation, sustainability and the future of water management. Emily served on the Murray–Darling Basin Authority’s Basin Community Committee from 2019 to 2021, representing the Coorong and Lower Lakes region.
Emily is particularly passionate about the role of communities in shaping water policy. She believes that the complexity of water management makes meaningful public participation more important, not less — and that better decisions emerge when technical expertise, local knowledge and diverse community perspectives are brought together.
As a principal of democracyCo, Emily leads innovative approaches to community engagement and deliberative decision-making. democracyCo specialises in bringing diverse people together to work through complex public policy challenges, particularly where there are competing interests, difficult trade-offs and no easy answers. democracyCo designs and facilitates processes that enable communities and stakeholders to engage deeply with evidence, understand different perspectives, deliberate on options and develop informed, practical recommendations. Their work includes citizens’ juries, community assemblies, collaborative policy design and other deliberative approaches that give people genuine influence over the decisions that affect them.
NB: Speaker presentations will be recorded and available to view post-event; Q&A following will not be recorded and Chatham House rule will apply.
This event is open and free to attend for Fellows, Friends and supporters of the Peter Cullen Trust, by invitation.
In 2026, the PCT National Webinar Series – “Courageous Conversations” – is generously supported by 