More Help On The Way For NSW Flood-Affected Communities With Additional Funding

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet announced on Tuesday additional joint funding for flood-affected residents.

In a bid to help get people’s lives “back on track,” Mr Albanese said primary producers can now apply for recovery grants of up to $75,000, while small businesses and non-profit organisations can apply for grants of up to $50,000.

“This support is absolutely necessary in order for people to get through what has been an extremely difficult time,” Albanese said.

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Albanese emphasised that payments will be fast-tracked to prioritise support for victims over auditing the process.

"I make this point -we’re making the payments. We’re not holding them up in order to audit in advance. But we will be auditing in retrospect as well.

"So only people who are eligible for these payments should apply for these payments, but we didn’t want to be in a circumstance whereby people were not able to receive support because some of these people have lost everything," he said.

Not wanting to add "to the trauma which people are experiencing," the prime minister said, "this additional funding is another step towards helping people get their lives back on track."

"As we emerge from this disaster, the scale of the recovery effort is becoming clearer, and it will be a long road for many.

- PM Albanese

The package is jointly funded by the Australian and New South Wales governments and includes:

• $80 million committed to assist with the clean-up and removal of flood and storm related damage, debris and green waste;
• Grants of up to $75,000 to assist primary producers that have suffered direct damage;
• $1 million grants to each impacted council (the 37 declared local government areas) to assist with their immediate recovery costs;
• $36 million committed for a building assessment program for flooded properties, and free demolition of those found to be uninhabitable; and
• Grants of up to $50,000 to assist small business and not-for-profit organisations that have suffered direct damage.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said today's announcement ensures flood-affected communities across Greater Sydney, the Illawarra, Central Coast and Hunter will have the support at both state and federal levels to "deliver immediate support to help people get back on their feet and rebuild their lives as quickly as possible."

"We are going to be with communities every step of the way and each of these jointly funded programs will provide vital support to help households, businesses and councils to clean up and recover from these devastating floods.

- Premier Perrottet

In addition, the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment and Disaster Recovery Allowance is available to affected adults and children in disaster-declared local government areas (LGAs).

Another eight regions were declared as disaster zones on Tuesday, in addition to the 29 that had been previously announced, bringing the total number of LGA's to 37.

The declaration allows flood victims in these areas to apply for emergency financial assistance grants.

For further information on the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements and other support, visit www.recovery.gov.au.

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