Disaster assistance has been made available for communities in the local government areas of Cabonne, Parkes and Tamworth that were affected by bushfires in early January.

Assistance is being provided through the jointly funded Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA) in response to:

• the Tamworth (Halls Creek Road) bushfire from 3 January 2019; and
• the Parkes and Cabonne (Curembenya) bushfire from 5 January 2019.

Minister for Emergency Management and North Queensland Recovery Senator the Hon. Linda Reynolds CSC said the Commonwealth and NSW governments were working together to support ongoing recovery efforts of bushfire affected communities.

“These fires burnt over 4500 hectares of land, threatening a number of rural properties and causing serious disruption to local communities,” Minister Reynolds said.

“Thankfully there were no properties destroyed – a credit to both the preparedness of local communities and the efforts of volunteers and firefighters involved in the response.

“A range of practical assistance is now available to help boost recovery efforts and cover the costs of response operations activities taken to protect the community.”

NSW Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott said that a significant and coordinated multi-agency and community response was required to bring the fires under control.

“The NSW Rural Fire Service battled challenging weather conditions and deployed large numbers of firefighting personnel, appliances and aircraft to combat these bushfires,” Minister Elliott said.

“Our first responders, including personnel from the NSW Rural Fire Service and the National Parks and Wildlife service, did a remarkable job in protecting the communities under threat.

“The funding available through the DRFA will help cover the cost of fighting the bushfires and ensure that any damaged public infrastructure can be repaired.”

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.

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.