Funding for communities to improve the ecological health of urban waterways

You can apply if you:

• have an Australian business number (ABN)
• are located in Australia
• are a not-for-profit organisation

You can apply for Stream 1 and/or Stream 2 if you are one of the following entities:

• a not-for-profit company incorporated in Australia
• a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee
• an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (Cth)
• an incorporated trustee on behalf of a trust
• a Regional Delivery Partner organisation, except where they are an Australian state/territory government agency, statutory authority or government owned corporation that derives revenue from waterway management levies, including developer, drainage, stormwater or waterway levies
• an incorporated association
• a co-operative
• a registered charity or an incorporated not-for-profit organisation
• a publicly funded organisation (PFRO) as defined in section 14 of the grant opportunity guidelines
• an Australian local government agency or body as defined in section 14 of the grant opportunity guidelines
• an Australian state/territory government agency, statutory authority or government owned corporation that does not derive revenue from waterway management levies, including developer, drainage, stormwater or waterway levies.

You cannot apply for stream 1 if you are:

• an Australian state/territory government, including any department
• any Australian state/territory government agency, statutory authority or government owned corporation that derives revenue from waterway management levies, including developer and, drainage, stormwater or waterway levies
• any Regional Delivery Partner organisation that is an Australian state/territory government agency, statutory authority or government owned corporation that derives revenue from waterway management levies, including developer, drainage, stormwater or waterway levies.

You can apply for stream 2 if you:

• are any of the entities eligible under stream 1
• an Australian state/territory government, including any department
• an Australian state/territory government agency, statutory authority, or government owned corporation that derives revenue from waterway management levies, including developer, drainage, stormwater or waterway levies.

You cannot apply for Stream 1 or Stream 2 if you are one of the following entities:

• an organisation, or your project partner is an organisation, included on the National Redress Scheme’s list of Institutions that have not joined or signified their intent to join the Scheme
• an employer of 100 or more employees that has not complied with the Workplace Gender Equality Act (2012)
• an individual
• a for-profit organisation
• a partnership
• any organisation not listed as an eligible entity for this grant opportunity.

Joint (consortia) applications with other organisations

You can submit joint (consortia) applications with one or more other organisation/s provided you identify a lead organisation for the project who is eligible to apply.

The lead organisation must fill out the application form.

If we give your group the grant, the lead organisation:

• signs the grant agreement
• is responsible for making sure your group follows the rules in the grant agreement.

You must complete your project by 28 February 2028.

Your project must:

• be located in Australia
• be aimed at addressing the grant opportunity program objectives and outcomes
• have between $150,000 to $2 million in eligible expenditure for Stream 1  
• have at least $4 million in eligible expenditure with a matching cash contribution to the project for Stream 2
• be aimed at benefitting the ecological health of a waterway in an urban, peri-urban/outer urban or regional centre in Australia
• be within the boundary of a Significant Urban Area as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, or up to 500 metres immediately adjacent to the boundary
• be in an eligible location as outlined in the grant opportunity guidelines
• be aimed at providing benefits and outcomes for native plants and animals endemic to the project site, or provide benefits and outcomes for an EPBC-listed threatened species, an EPBC-listed Threatened Ecological Community, or the ecological character of a wetland of international significance, namely a Ramsar site
• direct at least 75% of the grant funding to eligible on-ground project activities for Stream 1
• direct at least 85% of the grant funding to eligible on-ground activities for Stream 2.

You must identify where your project activities will occur. Your project can be in one or more sites.

Your project site must be:

• within the boundary of a Significant Urban Area as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, or up to 500 metres immediately adjacent to the boundary
• within and/or immediately adjacent to/associated with a waterway including an estuary, river, creek, ephemeral waterway, billabong, wetland, chain of ponds or drainage channel.

Significant Urban Areas include urban, outer-urban/peri-urban and regional centres.

Before starting an application you should check the proposed project location is in an eligible boundary area.

To check the boundry area, you can:

• use the National Map
• download the relevant map/s.

You can apply for a grant between $150,000 and $2 million for Stream 1 and between $2 million and $10 million for Stream 2.

You can use this grant funding for:

• labour expenditure, on-costs and administrative overheads
• purchase of material and supplies
• staff training that directly supports the achievement of project outcomes
• purchase, lease or hire of equipment
• planning, environmental and regulatory approval costs
• contractor costs including earthmoving and landscaping
• project or tender planning, design and feasibility costs
• domestic travel to and from the location.

Read the grant opportunity guidelines for more information.

To be eligible, expenditure must

• be a direct cost to the project
• be incurred by you for required project audit activities
• be incurred by you between the project start and end date

Meet the eligible expenditure guidelines.