Natural Disaster Assistance Schemes
The following schemes are available under the NSW Natural Disaster Relief Arrangements:
Personal Hardship and Distress Assistance
Community Services (formerly DoCS) can provide disaster relief grants to eligible individuals and families whose homes and essential household items have been destroyed or damaged by a natural disaster. People with limited financial resources and no insurance may be eligible for assistance for essential household items and structural repairs to the home.
Inquiries about the disaster relief grants
and the eligibility criteria may be made by contacting DoCS Disaster Recovery Centre on 1800 018 444.
Primary Producers
Loans
of up to $130,000 are available (subject to certain eligibility criteria), at a
concessional interest rate of 2.56 per cent, for those in urgent need. These loans may be used to meet carry-on requirements
and the replacement and repair of damage not covered by insurance. The NSW
Rural Assistance Authority (now part of Industry & Investment NSW) administer
this scheme. I
nquiries should be directed to the Authority on 1800 678 593.
NSW Rural Assistance Authority website
Transport
freight subsidies of up to 50 per cent on the carriage of livestock and fodder
are available to help primary producers.
The maximum subsidy available is $15,000 per annum.
Inquiries should be made to the nearest Industry
& Investment NSW - Primary Industries office (formerly Department of Primary Industries). The
public inquiry number is
1800 814 647.
Industry and Investment NSW - Primary Industries website
Small business
Loans
of up to $130,000 are available at a concessional rate of 2.56 per cent to
small businesses affected by disasters and which meet certain eligibility
criteria. This finance is available to those unable to obtain assistance
through normal channels.
The NSW Rural Assistance Authority (now part
of Industry & Investment NSW) administer this scheme.
Inquiries should be
directed to the Authority on 1800 678 593.
NSW Rural Assistance Authority website
Assistance for Councils
Grants
are available to meet the additional costs of emergency work to restore
essential services, including the provision of emergency levee banks, which are
in excess of normal operations.
Grants are available to meet 100 per cent of eligible emergency works and 75 per cent of eligible restorations works up to $116,000 with 100 per cent cost recovery beyond that level. The Department of Services, Technology and Administration (formerly Department of Commerce) administers this assistance. The contact person is Neil Birks (02) 9372 8871.
Grants
are available to help Councils to permanently restore roads and bridges to
pre-disaster standards. These grants
meet 75 per cent of the first $116,000 expenditure and 100 per cent beyond that
level. This assistance is administered
by the Roads and Traffic Authority.
The
contact person is Richard Woodburn on (02) 8588 5660.
Roads and Traffic Authority website
Trustees of Parks and Reserves
Provided
the facilities concerned constitute "public assets", grants may be
made available to those parties (e.g. trustees) responsible for managing Crown Land,
parks and reserves, who do not have the financial capacity to meet restoration
costs from their own resources. The
Department of Lands administers this scheme.
The contact person is John Burton
on
(02) 8236 7082.
Sporting Clubs
A
special scheme is available to assist sporting clubs in meeting the costs of
restoration of essential club facilities that have been damaged or destroyed.
The assistance is made available to those clubs which do not have the financial
capacity to meet restoration costs from their own resources, but which have the
capacity to repay any loan that may be granted.
Under
these arrangements the maximum assistance available is $12,000, including a
grant of up to $2,000 and the balance by way of repayable advance with interest
at the rate of 2.56 per cent per annum. Treasury administers this scheme.
The contact person is Brian Lin on (02) 9228 5198.
This finance is available to those unable to obtain assistance through normal channels.
Churches and Voluntary Non-profit organisations
Loan
assistance is available to churches and voluntary non-profit organisations for
the restoration of essential facilities that have been damaged or destroyed.
Eligible groups will usually perform a service for the community or environment
and are funded by grants or donations.
Non-profit organisations that perform a commercial function, charge a fee for a service or represent commercial or industrial groups, e.g. industry bodies are not eligible for assistance. These organisations can recover costs from their members or through fees.
As with other schemes, assistance is only available to those organisations which do not have the financial capacity to meet restorations costs from their own resources, insurance and are unable to obtain assistance through normal channels.
Advances
are subject to a maximum of $25,000 at 2.56 per cent interest per annum. Treasury administers this scheme.
The contact person is Brian Lin on (02) 9228 5198.
Commonwealth/State Natural Disaster Arrangements
The above Schemes are eligible for Australian Government
financial assistance, usually by way of partial reimbursement of actual
expenditure, under Australian Government Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery
Arrangements. Under the cost sharing formula, NSW pays for the first $111.1
million of natural disaster costs each year, and can claim from the Australian
Government half of all eligible Personal Hardship and Distress costs within
this first threshold. The Australian Government then matches NSW expenditure
for costs between $111.1 million, and $194.4 million and beyond that covers
three quarters of all costs.