News edition for 25 July 2026. Added to Nungya on 22 October 2026 as part of our retrospective news archive. Reporting reflects information available by the edition date.

A water project can begin with a conversation and a plan, before anything changes visibly on the bank of a river.

On 17 March 2026, the Australian Government announced support for more than fifty First Nations projects through the $20 million Cultural Flows Planning for Cultural Economies program in the Murray–Darling Basin.

The announced work includes developing Cultural Flows plans, strengthening governance and preparing water-dependent business plans. Applicants have up to two years to complete their projects. That timetable matters: funding approval is not the same as a finished plan or a measured environmental result.

This July edition returns to the planning stage described in the announcement. It does not offer advice about water entitlements or imply that all Basin communities have the same priorities.

The activity is worth following because it puts questions of purpose before a simple tally of projects. What does a community want to achieve? Who contributes knowledge? How does a plan connect cultural, environmental and economic responsibilities? The answers belong with the particular First Nations groups undertaking the work.

For a reader familiar with the Basin mainly through maps and rainfall figures, those are additional ways to understand it. A river system is also a set of relationships, workplaces and responsibilities. Planning provides one place for those priorities to be made explicit.

Read the original report: Funding for more than 50 First Nations water projects.