Portfolio — 15 April 2026

Minister Murray Watt announced a $160 million water efficiency project for Bendigo on 15 April 2026, with the Albanese Government committing $120 million through the Resilient Rivers Water Infrastructure Program and Coliban Water contributing up to $40 million [TA-260415-climat-38c52100f992]. The project targets Coliban Water's rural supply network — infrastructure dating from the 1870s that currently loses an extraordinary 79 to 80 per cent of water through leaks, seepage, and evaporation across channels serving approximately 1,300 customers including farming families and small businesses [TA-260415-climat-392cdbd12223].

Modernisation will proceed through a combination of piping, recycled water connections, and selective channel retention over roughly five years in staged phases.

The environmental and Basin Plan dimensions are central to the announcement's policy weight. The project will contribute 4.6 gigalitres toward the Murray-Darling Basin Plan's 450-gigalitre water recovery target, and 300 megalitres of water savings will be returned to the Dja Dja Wurrung people through DJAARA for self-determined use — embedding Indigenous water governance directly into the project's design [TA-260415-climat-38c52100f992].

Watt used the announcement to draw a sharp contrast on Basin Plan delivery: the former Coalition Government recovered just 2 gigalitres of the 450-gigalitre target over a decade, against the approximately 220 gigalitres the Albanese Government claims to have recovered to date [TA-260415-climat-38c52100f992]. That comparison frames the Bendigo investment as part of a broader acceleration narrative on Basin Plan implementation rather than a standalone regional project.

The portfolio's messaging integrates three distinct objectives — regional water security for Bendigo-area customers, agricultural productivity for the roughly 1,300 irrigators and rural users on Coliban Water's network, and environmental water recovery for the Murray-Darling Basin — alongside the Indigenous partnership dimension through the 300-megalitre allocation to the Dja Dja Wurrung people.

The Restoring our Rivers Act 2023 sits in the legislative background as the framework enabling this recovery approach. No parliamentary contributions are present in today's record; the activity is confined to the comms stream.