The National Sewerage Program was an Australian federal program under the Whitlam and Fraser governments[2] established to provide funding for the expansion of municipal sewerage systems.

[3] At the time Australia was lagging behind other developed nations[4][5] and, as of the commencement of the program in 1972, 17.2% of the Australian population were not connected to sewerage.

[6] Even in major population centers like Sydney and Melbourne, there was a backlog of over 318,000 homes waiting to be connected to municipal sewerage systems.

[7] The program was administered by the newly formed Department of Urban and Regional Development, and over AUD$330 million of funding was allocated to be distributed to individual states and territories over ten years.

[8][6] Over the life of the program the sewerage connection backlog was reduced by 30% to 40%.