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Polly Cutmore

Polly Cutmore

Gamilaraay/Gomeroi Elder and Traditional Owner from Moree, NSW; Aboriginal water rights advocate and Managing Director/founder of the Mehi Centre.

Sep 20, 2026

18:31
So how do you describe that as being different to the way that governments and water systems treat the water?
18:40
Well, we live with... our riverways and waters.
18:44
We don't...
18:45
And it lives with us on the land.
18:47
So we have to allow for the...
18:51
And it sustains us.
18:53
So we have to let that living structure go ahead if we are going to survive.
21:18
Why was it important that those conversations were particularly led by women?
Colin Mockett
Colin MockettCORRESPONDENT
19:05
And so that's, that's a typical thing for colonizers, to treat the, uh, the people that live where they come in and colonize and take all the resources and exactly the way you just, uh, mentioned it.
19:20
Yes.
19:20
Yes, it is.
19:21
You know, we can't even get...
19:24
We've been fenced off, locked out.
19:27
There's been locks put on our river system, you know, that we didn't even know, with dams and weirs.
19:34
And you know, when you fly over now, you don't see the glycerin of fire, like, little fire.

22 MINS LATER

Colin Mockett
Colin MockettCORRESPONDENT
41:16
Now, having said that, give us your opinion on what I've just said.

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