Australia abstained from a vote at the UN General Assembly which adopted a resolution on access to clean water and sanitation is a human right.  

The draft resolution (document A/64/L.63/REV.1) introduced by Bolivia, called on States and international organisations, in scaling up efforts to provide safe, clearn, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation, to:

• to provide financial resources,
• build capacity and transfer technology, particularly for developing countries

The resolution also welcomed a request by the UN Human Rights Council’s for the UN Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations rela... (Catarina de Albuquerque) to report annually to the General Assembly.

The resolution was adopted by a vote of 122 in favour to none against, with 41 abstentions.

 Australia, having obstained from the vote, made comments through its representatives. Australia's representative said:

• access to water and sanitation was linked to a range of civil rights, and noted that more than half the people in the Asia-Pacific region lacked access to water and sanitation.
• Despite having increased its development assistance, Australia nevertheless had reservations about declaring new human rights in a General Assembly resolution.
• Indeed, when new rights were recognized, consensus was essential. Australia had followed the work of the independent expert, who should have been able to report on it before the text was tabled.

 Further information on the resolution can be found here.