Residents Brian Klowss, Bill Lovell and Kerry Walker, along with Quantong resident Matt Flockhart, put their concerns to Ms Baldwin.

Topics raised raised included a lack of water in the lake and the construction of a higher weir at Natimuk Lake and frustrations with processes throughout the project's history.

The weir project has repeatedly seen residents and Parks Victoria, who manage the lake, engage in heated discussions on the topic, from the beginning of its construction in 2016.

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Parks Victoria eventually committed to the weir's construction in 2019, however project delays have been a point of irritation for residents, Klowss and Walker said.

Control over funding for the project, which is largely based on the Natimuk Lake Otto Spehr Trust, left to community-based Natimuk Lake Foreshore Committee to manage, has also been a point of contention.

"They crucified locals when they stopped the project and now they are happy for it to go ahead, but there is no money for it... we had money for it three years ago." Mr Klowss told the Wimmera Mail-Times in 2019.

Other concerns raised included the disposal of wastewater near water sources in Natimuk and the recent approval by the Environmental Protection Agency of Quantong's Wastewater Sustainability Farm to take brine from Australian Plant Proteins.

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Mr Flockhart said Quantong residents were heading to VCAT to contest the authority's decision to grant a license.

Ms Baldwin said it was important to understand residents' concerns, even though not all were Federal issues.

"If you don't get out and talk to the people, how do you know what their problems are? How do you fix anything?" Ms Baldwin said.

"It's such a diverse electorate, but essentially small towns have just been forgotten across Mallee."

Ms Baldwin has dealt with water concerns in the past, and said Natimuk's residents were not alone.

"A lot of the issues the same right across the electorate; access to healthcare, daycare, water and roads; things I call community infrastructure," she said.

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