Supporting flood-affected communities across Queensland and New South Wales

On 18 March 2022, in response to large scale floods across Queensland and New South Wales during February and March, the Australian Government announced an additional $150 million from the Emergency Response Fund for recovery and post-disaster resilience initiatives that support flood-affected communities in those states.

Queensland and New South Wales have each been allocated a grant of $75 million to spend on projects where they, in agreement with the Australian Government, determine the funding is most needed.

The allocation of $150 million for recovery and post disaster resilience projects for the New South Wales and Queensland recovery and resilience package is the total allocation available for 2021-22 from the Emergency Response Fund as prescribed by the legislation.

The National Emergency Management Agency will work with the Queensland and New South Wales governments to support the implementation of the funding.

Projects Approved for Funding

New South Wales

Project Name	Project Description	Approved Funding	Year Funded
Flood mitigation infrastructure and voluntary house raising	Administer grants to Councils and Agencies managing flood mitigation infrastructure for flood mitigation projects and voluntary house raising.	$40,000,000	2021-22
Flood warning infrastructure and systems, and associated community awareness	Support Councils and Agencies managing flood warning gauges and systems to install, upgrade and operate flood warning gauges and systems, and services. To provide associated advice to make the community aware of the warning system and associated community awareness.	$15,000,000	2021-22
Levee assessment and improvement program	Continue flood impact assessments of flood mitigation infrastructure damaged by the February-March 2022 storms and flooding. These assessments will be used as the basis for undertaking priority, and informing future flood mitigation, repairs and improvements.	$14,000,000	2021-22
Valley level flood risk management assessments	Valley level flood risk management assessments for priority areas within the 62 affected councils.  These will provide improved information for flood risk management and emergency management decisions and activities. It will support improved state wide understanding of flood risk.	$5,000,000	2021-22
Flood impacts and risk management report	Produce a report that covers all affected councils outlining the scale of flood impacts on infrastructure, available information on the relative rarity of the flood at key locations; and identifying known priority flood risk management and community awareness measures.	$1,000,000	2021-22

Queensland

Project Name	Description	Approved Funding	Year Funded
Bundaberg East Levee	Construction of a levee, with two main segments, covering approx. 1.7kms. Featuring a concrete floodwall, flood gates and pump station across Bundaberg Creek.	$57,350,000	2021-22
Southside Transport Flood Detour Route Upgrade (Gympie Regional Council)	Widen 220m section of Copp, Pritchard and Smerdon Roads to provide a flood route between Gympie city and Southside area pending flood related closure of Normanby Bridge.	$986,047	2021-22
Price Creek Bridge (Scenic Rim Regional Council)	Replace existing low-level floodway with concrete bridge with raised deck height to increase flood resilience. The bridge provides the only access to 73 properties (mix of residential and business).	$3,133,055	2021-22
Easey Street Drain (Southern Downs Regional Council)	Replace drain with concrete-lined drain and construct a grass-lined drain between the Warwick Gymnastics site and the Cunningham Highway to protect 24 properties affected by flooding in the area.	$1,141,104	2021-22
Perth Street (Lake Annand) Culverts (Toowoomba Regional Council)	Replace old culvert with a reinforced concrete box culvert structure and related infrastructure, including a small weir to Lake Annand.	$3,351,322	2021-22
Flood Warning Infrastructure Network	Continue roll-out of new and upgraded infrastructure to improve flood warning services.	$7,000,000	2021-22
Scoping study and report	Identify unmet recovery needs and where appropriate fund eligible recovery activities	$1,000,000	2021-22