The Albanese and Minns Governments have activated disaster assistance to communities in five Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the New England region following widespread severe weather including heavy rainfall and snow.
The NSW Government's Natural Disaster Declaration applies to the LGAs of Gunnedah, Narrabri, Tamworth, Uralla and Walcha.
Support has been made available under the joint Commonwealth-state Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).
Assistance measures that may be provided to communities include:
• Assistance for eligible residents to help meet immediate needs like emergency accommodation and essential items generally provided from evacuation or recovery centres.
• Grants for low-income, uninsured residents to replace lost essential household items to maintain basic standard of living.
• Grants for low-income, uninsured residents to undertake essential structural repairs to restore their homes to a basic, safe and habitable condition.
• Support for affected local councils to help with the costs of cleaning up and restoring damaged essential public assets.
• Concessional interest rate loans for small businesses, primary producers, and non-profit organisations and grants to sporting and recreation clubs to repair or replace damaged or destroyed property.
• Freight subsidies for primary producers to help transport livestock and fodder.
• Financial support towards counter disaster activity undertaken by emergency service organisations to keep communities safe.
Quotes attributable to Federal Minister for Emergency Management Kristy McBain MP:
"The Australian Government is working closely with the NSW Government to ensure that affected communities across New England receive the support they need to recover.
"The storms and snowfall have caused significant disruption to homes, roads, and services, and we know the impact is being deeply felt across these communities.
"This support will help ease immediate hardship and assist with longer term rebuilding efforts, including restoring public infrastructure and helping uninsured households get back on their feet.
"Our focus remains on standing with these communities as they recover, rebuild and prepare for future severe weather events."
Quotes attributable to NSW Minister for Recovery Janelle Saffin MP:
"The Minns Labor Government is activating targeted support to meet immediate community needs and to get vital infrastructure back up and running.
"The recent storms have caused damage across the New England region and we want to ensure that councils in particular are supported so that communities know the repair and reconstruction work that needs to be done can be done.
"Roads, bridges and essential services have been damaged after being inundated with water and snow, and there's a significant clean-up ahead to deal with debris and restore access.
"A natural disaster declaration is the first step in unlocking support these communities urgently need."
More information on disaster assistance can be found at https://www.nsw.gov.au/emergency/recovery and www.disasterassist.gov.au
