Disaster recovery assistance has been extended to the Bega Valley, Greater Hume, Snowy Monaro, Snowy Valleys and Upper Lachlan Local Government Areas.

This takes the total assistance provided through the jointly funded Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA) to $64 million.

Minister for Natural Disaster and Emergency Management David Littleproud said this brought the number of areas eligible for assistance to 46.

“This will help people whose homes or belongings have been badly damaged,” Minister Littleproud said.

“Practical assistance is also available to support ongoing firefighting operations and clean-up efforts.

“Bushfires have been burning for weeks and pose a threat to lives, properties and communities.

“We are monitoring the situation closely and will provide further assistance to communities as needed.”

NSW Acting Minister for Police and Emergency Services Anthony Roberts said that these bushfires have burnt thousands of hectares across new fire grounds.

“Over 2,200 firefighters, incident management teams and more than 100 firefighting aircrafts have been deployed to NSW over the past weeks to combat these unprecedented fires,” Minister Roberts said.

“I urge everyone in the vicinity of these fires to monitor the situation closely and follow any advice that is given by the Rural Fire Services.”

Assistance measures available under the DRFA may include:

• 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 eligible non-profit organisations.

For information on personal hardship and distress assistance, contact the Disaster Welfare Assistance Line on 1800 018 444. To apply for a concessional loan, grant or freight subsidy, contact the NSW Rural Assistance Authority on 1800 678 593 or visit www.raa.nsw.gov.au.

Further information on disaster assistance is available on the Australian Government’s Disaster Assist website at disasterassist.gov.au and the NSW emergency information and response website at emergency.nsw.gov.au.