Disaster assistance has been extended to a further 12 local government areas across NSW, including three in the New England, to help people and businesses heavily impacted by storms and flooding which occurred in February.
Assistance is now available in the following local government areas: Glen Innes Severn, Tenterfield and Upper Hunter.
This extension means that disaster assistance has been activated in a total of 83 New South Wales local government areas, as well as Lord Howe Island, for storms and floods between 15 January and 23 February 2020.
Assistance is being provided through the jointly funded Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).
Member for New England, Barnaby Joyce, said the funding will provide vital assistance to help these flood-affected communities recover.
“Many people and businesses across the New England have suffered greatly from drought, bushfire and now Coronavirus,” Mr Joyce said.
“We saw at places like Wytaliba and in parts of the Upper Hunter and Tenterfield, how flooding compounded the hardship suffered by residents following fire events.
“Combined with recently announced COVID-19 financial aid packages in the hundreds of billions of dollars, this disaster assistance will further help residents, businesses and communities get back on their feet, sooner.”
Assistance available under the DRFA may include:
• help for eligible people whose homes or belongings have been damaged
• 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
• freight subsidies for primary producers, and
• grants to eligible non-profit organisations
If you are uninsured and have low income, for information on personal hardship and distress assistance, contact the Disaster Welfare Assistance Line on 1800 018 444. To apply for a concessional loan, contact the NSW Rural Assistance Authority on 1800 678 593 or www.raa.nsw.gov.au. Further information on disaster assistance is available on the Australian Government’s Disaster Assist website at www.disasterassist.gov.au and the NSW emergency information and response www.emergency.nsw.gov.au