Disaster assistance has been activated for the local government area of Flinders and extended for primary producers, small businesses and not for profit organisations across Townsville and a number of regions impacted by the North Queensland monsoon trough.
Assistance is being provided through the jointly funded Commonwealth-Queensland Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA) and is in addition to the assistance already activated for North and Far North Queensland.
Assistant Minister for ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Affairs Senator the Hon. Linda Reynolds, who has responsibility for Commonwealth disaster assistance, said assistance is being targeted to communities that need it the most and this latest extension now provides assistance to 21 local government areas.
“Through the DRFA, assistance is now available to Flinders Shire Council to help with the cost of clean-up and repairs, and the assistance measures for Winton have also been extended to help alleviate these costs,” Assistant Minister Reynolds said.
“In addition, low interest loans to support the recovery of primary producers, small businesses and not for profit organisations are available in Burdekin, Cloncurry, Douglas, Flinders, Hinchinbrook, McKinlay and Richmond.
“The Commonwealth and Queensland governments continue to work closely to ensure affected communities are supported.”
Queensland Minister for Fire and Emergency Services Craig Crawford praised the work of the frontline response to the floods and said all levels of government were working to ensure communities get the help they need.
“To further show our support for primary producers dealing with the floods, freight subsidies for primary producers are now available in Burdekin, Cloncurry, Douglas, Flinders, Hinchinbrook, McKinlay, Richmond and Townsville,” Minister Crawford said.
The 21 local council areas in Queensland receiving a range of DRFA assistance are: Burdekin, Cairns, Carpentaria, Charters Towers, Cloncurry, Cook, Croydon, Douglas, Etheridge, Flinders, Hinchinbrook, Hope Vale, McKinlay, Mornington, Palm Island, Richmond, Townsville, Whitsunday, Winton, Wujal Wujal and Yarrabah.
Information on disaster assistance can be found on the Australian Government’s Disaster Assist website at and the Queensland Government’s Disaster Management website at .
