Close to $20 million for Northern Rivers under new Disaster Ready Fund

State Member for Lismore Janelle Saffn said funding should start rolling out from next month for the local disaster preparedness projects announced in the frst round of the Commonwealth’s new Disaster Ready Fund.

“The NSW Government successfully applied for three local projects for our region under and joint Commonwealth and State funding will provide a total of $19.8 million.

The successful projects covering the Northern Rivers are:

Nature Based Solutions: Building Flood Resilience in Lismore CatchmentWorks to reduce food and erosion risks in the Lismore’s river catchment.

Richmond Landcare.

$5.67million

Fire Country and People: Aboriginal Community Disaster

Ready partnership-

The establishment of strategic partnerships with Aboriginal communities and organisation to reduce the risk and impact of disasters.

Forestry Corporation

$2.95million

Northern Rivers Disaster Adaptation project – a suite of research and development projects to enhance disaster planning, preparations and response capabilities.

Northern Rivers Reconstruction Authority

$11.19 million

It is important that local projects can get underway quickly, and I have been assured the funds will be provided as soon as possible from July 1. Projects must be completed within three years.

The frst round of the Disaster Ready Fund was announced jointly by the Federal

Minister for Emergency Management, Murray Watt; The NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, Paul Scully and the NSW Minister for Emergency Services, Jihad Dib.

I have brought all three Ministers to the Lismore electorate several times and I know they are committed to us being better prepared, less exposed and in the best possible position when disaster strikes.

Minister Watt said that every dollar spent on disaster resilience and mitigation delivers a return on investment to governments and households nine times over.

Information on the next round of the Disaster Ready Fund is available on the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) website www.nema.gov. au