The Deputy Prime Minister and Member for New England, Barnaby Joyce welcomed $27 million in funding for communities in New South Wales to enhance their resilience to natural disasters.

Projects are jointly supported with Commonwealth Government funding matched by New South Wales and funding recipients.  This funding encourages a partnership approach with the funding recipients, helping to build a culture of shared responsibility in the face of natural disasters. 

“The impact of flooding is well known along the major waterways in the New England Electorate,” Mr Joyce said.

“We are fortunate there are many volunteer support groups and I’m proud the Turnbull-Joyce Government is able to provide the funding to give the support they need to provide risk assessment and management. There are also grants for bushfire mitigation, training and recuiting of volunteers and grants to help organisations manage flood risk,” he said.

The funding will strengthen community resilience to natural disasters through the continuation of New South Wales’ existing funding programmes, including the Community Resilience Innovation Program (CRIP), Emergency Volunteer Support Scheme (EVSS), bushfire and floodplain grants schemes, and State Emergency Management Projects.

“The Australian Government is focused on boosting the resilience of communities through the $52 million national partnership agreement to ensure they are better prepared for future disaster events,” Mr Joyce said.

Minister for Justice Michael Keenan said while the nature and size of the country’s landscape meant that natural hazards were a fact of life in Australia, more needed to be done to manage natural disaster risks.

“The Australian Government is supporting the states and territories as they assist those recovering from natural disasters, and are focused on boosting the resilience of communities to future events,” Mr Keenan said.