Disaster assistance has been made available in the local government areas of Beverley, Pingelly and Northam which were affected by heavy rainfall and flooding in late February 2018.
Assistance is being provided through the jointly-funded Commonwealth-State Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements (NDRRA).
Assistant Minister for Home Affairs, Western Australian Senator Linda Reynolds, who has responsibility for Commonwealth disaster assistance, said that funding is being made available through the NDRRA to support affected individuals and assist local councils in repairing flood damaged assets particularly roads.
"Flooding has caused widespread damage to roads across the wheatbelt region," Assistant Minister Reynolds said.
"There was significant heavy rainfall in this region and today's announcement provides assistance to help councils in their recovery efforts."
"The NDRRA assistance will also help councils with their clean-up costs and provide small businesses and primary producers with interest rate subsidies."
The Western Australian Minister for Emergency Services Francis Logan said the assistance demonstrated the commitment of the Commonwealth and Western Australian governments to ensure local governments received the assistance they needed to recover.
"This financial assistance means local governments can get on with restoring damaged essential public infrastructure that has been affected by natural causes without undue financial burden," Minister Logan said.
"This funding assistance can make a considerable difference to local governments and community members when addressing the impact of natural disasters."
Assistance available under the NDRRA may include:
- personal hardship and distress assistance for affected individuals and families
- financial support for affected local governments and state agencies to help with the costs of cleaning up and restoring damaged essential public assets
- interest rate subsidies for small businesses and primary producers, and
- freight subsidies for primary producers.
For further information, visit www.dfes.wa.gov.au/recovery
Information on disaster assistance available for natural disasters can be found on the Commonwealth Government's website at disasterassist.gov.au.