The clean-up following Cyclone Debbie continues across Queensland and northern New South Wales and individuals and businesses will be recovering for years to come.
Minister for Justice Michael Keenan and New South Wales Minister for Emergency Services Troy Grant announced on Thursday that recovery grants have been extended to additional communities severely affected by the North Coast floods.
Tweed Shire Council has welcomed the announcement of the extension of the grants to more communities in Tweed.
The assistance is being provided through the Commonwealth-State Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements (NDRRA), also known as ‘Category C’ funding.
Recovery grants have been extended to eligible industry specific primary producers and eligible small businesses and non-profit organisations.
“This assistance will provide a much needed boost to small business owners, non-profit organisations, and farmers that were significantly affected by the floods, and in particular the banana, beef, macadamia, passionfruit, sugar cane and soybean industries,” Mr Keenan said.
Mayor of Tweed, Councillor Katie Milne welcomed the announcement.
“This is very welcome news for our small villages that are so vital for our communities. Council has been working hard to facilitate and advocate for this assistance and we thank the State and Federal Governments for making this happen.”
This assistance is in addition to a range of assistance that is already available under the NDRRA to help flood affected individuals, small businesses, primary producers, and local councils with their recovery.
This includes:
- 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 non-profit organisations.
For recovery grants information contact NSW Rural Assistance Authority on 1800 678 593 or visit raa.nsw.gov.au
Further information on disaster assistance is available at disasterassist.gov.au and emergency.nsw.gov.au
