Funding for Murray–Darling Basin First Nations to develop cultural flows plans

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Yuma, my name is Nathan Dukes. I'm a Mara and Jingili man living on Ngunnawal country.

I'd like to start off by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and pay respects to their Elders past and present.

This video is about applying for a grant through the Murray-Darling Basin Cultural Flows Planning for Cultural Economies program.

We will cover:

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how a grant can help with cultural flows planning, developing governance structures and water-dependent business planning, who's eligible, how to apply, how we assess your application, when things will happen, where you can get help and where you can find more information.

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The Cultural Flows Planning for Cultural Economies grant program will fund Basin First Nations to do cultural flows planning.

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Cultural flows can benefit your nation spiritually, culturally, socially, environmentally and economically.

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You could receive a grant of up to $300,000 to develop, update or finish your cultural flows plan. You will have up to two years to complete your grant project and you can use the grant money for things like:

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setting up and running a working group, technical report writing, monitoring and evaluation activities, research or field work including surveys, monitoring, mapping, water models or gathering other research, water infrastructure planning, completing a business plan or improving governance structures.

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The grant money cannot be used to purchase water entitlements, water infrastructure or land. To receive a grant you need to meet all of the eligibility criteria.

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You must be a First Nations group or an organisation recognised as a Murray Darling Basin Traditional Owner.

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A Murray-Darling Basin First Nations group can also partner with another group to deliver an eligible project.

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If you make a joint application you must have a lead organisation who is the main driver.

You must have an ABN also known as an Australian Business Number and if you don't have an ABN you can work with a group that does and they can hold your funds.

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To submit your application use the Business Grants Hub at  www.business.gov.au/cultural-flows-grants

You'll find the grant opportunity guidelines and sample documents on this page.

When you're ready to start, click apply now and create an account. Follow the online instructions to complete and submit your application.

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Make sure you provide all the information requested, address all eligibility criteria and include all necessary attachments,

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otherwise your application may not be able to be assessed.

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Your application will be assessed by a committee of experts made up of staff from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water and an independent member.

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The committee will check that your project meets the objectives of the grant program and they'll also check your capacity, capability and resources to deliver your project

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The assessment process will take around 12 weeks from when the grant program closes and we'll let you know the outcome in writing.

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Grant applications open on Tuesday the 5th of August, and will close on Wednesday the 15th of October  2025.

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Just remember there's help if you need it. Reach out to the team by calling Business Grants Hub on 13 28 46 or emailing culturalflows@industry.gov.au  

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If you'd like to learn more about the Cultural Flows Planning for Cultural Economies grant program visit the Business Grants Hub at www.business.gov.au/cultural-flows-grants

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