Showing posts with label flood mitigation grant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flood mitigation grant. Show all posts

Sunday 28 August 2022

Albanese Government announces $75 million flood mitigation grant for NSW - drawn from the $3.9 billion national Emergency Response Fund

 

The National Tribune, 26 August 2022:


The Albanese Government has today announced a $75 million investment in flood mitigation and infrastructure resilience programs for New South Wales.


The support will be delivered across the 62 local government areas (LGAs) which were disaster-declared after the February-March flood event.


The program is wholly funded by the Commonwealth Government’s Emergency Response Fund, but will be delivered by New South Wales Government agencies, including Resilience NSW, the Department of Regional NSW and the Department of Planning and Environment.


The program includes:


  • $40 million for flood infrastructure: grants for councils and government agencies for flood mitigation projects, including funding for home raising projects.

  • $15 million for flood warning gauges: support for councils and government agencies to install, upgrade and operate flood warning gauges, systems and associated advice to make the community aware of the warning system.

  • $14 million for a levee assessment and improvement program: flood impact assessments of flood mitigation infrastructure damaged by the February-March flood event. These assessments will be used as the basis for flood mitigation repairs and improvements.

  • $5 million for valley level flood assessments: to provide improved information for flood risk management and emergency management decisions, and support improved State-wide understanding of flood risk.

  • $1 million for a flood infrastructure impact assessment and report: to outline flood infrastructure impacts, available information on the relative rarity of the flood at key locations and identify known priority flood risk management measures.


In no small measure Northern Rivers communities have helped bring this about by their own passionate advocacy in the media and, before both government & parliamentary inquiries, ably assisted by state MLA for Lismore Janelle Saffin and federal MP for Richmond Justine Elliot.