The joint Australian, state and territory governments Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA) provide a range of financial assistance to the natural disaster-declared areas in each state or territory.
For the Southern and Central West NSW Flooding from 4 August 2022, the available assistance measures include:
- Personal hardship and distress assistance
- Counter disaster operations
- Restoration of essential public assets
- Concessional interest rate loans for small businesses, primary producers and non-profit organisations who have suffered direct damage
- Freight subsidies for primary producers
- Grants for non-profit organisations
- Central West Caravan and Modular Housing Program.
For information on available recovery assistance, visit the Resilience NSW and Service NSW websites.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will replace passports that have been lost or damaged in declared natural disasters free of charge, visit the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website.
Additional Recovery Assistance Measures
Under the DRFA, the following additional assistance measures have been activated for this disaster:
- Primary Producer Recovery Grants: Recovery grants of up to $75,000 are available for eligible primary producers to help with recovery and reinstatement activities.
- Rural Landholders Grant: Grants of up to $10,000 for impacted landholders, not eligible for assistance under existing support mechanisms, for clean-up activities, damages or losses beyond the vicinity of the residential dwelling.
- Small Business and Non-Profit Organisation Recovery Grants: Recovery grants of up to $50,000 are available for eligible small businesses and non-profit organisations to help with recovery and reinstatement activities.
- Local Government Recovery Grants: These grants will provide funding assistance to local governments to assist them in undertaking immediate recovery activities, address emerging needs and help build community resilience. Grants will be used to fund initiatives across the built, social, economic and natural environment recovery domains.
- Clean-up Assistance Program for clean-up of properties, waste transfer and disposal, clean-up and restoration of public, community and environmental asset.
- Community Volunteer and Non-Government Organisations program: to support critical service delivery by NGOs and support local community-led social recovery programs.
- Medium Size Business Support Grants: to assist with clean-up and reinstatement of a medium business or not-for-profit organisation’s operations.
The following assistance measures have been made available for the highly impacted local government areas of Balranald, Bathurst, Berrigan, Cabonne, Carathool, Central Darling, Cobar, Coolamon, Cootamundra-Gundagai, Cowra, Dubbo, Edward River, Federation, Forbes, Gunnedah, Hilltops, Lachlan, Liverpool Plains, Moree Plains, Murray River, Murrumbidgee, Narrabri, Narrandera, Parkes, Snowy Monaro, Snowy Valleys, Upper Lachlan, Wagga Wagga, Walgett, and Wentworth:
- Back Home grants of up to $20,000 to help pay for costs towards restoring housing to a habitable condition or replacing essential household items.
- Rental Support Scheme to contribute to the cost of 16 weeks rental support for eligible applicants to ensure households can secure accommodation.
The following assistance measure has been made available for the highly impacted local government areas of Bathurst, Cabonne, Cootamundra-Gundagai, Cowra, Dubbo, Forbes, Gunnedah, Lachlan, Liverpool Plains, Moree Plains, Murray River, Narrabri, Parkes, Snowy Valleys, Upper Lachlan, Wagga Wagga, and Walgett:
- Property Damage Assessment Program for the assessment of properties and demolition of those found to be uninhabitable.
For further information on available recovery assistance, visit the Service NSW website.
