Wednesday, 28 February 2018
MEMBER for Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall welcomed today’s confirmation that disaster assistance has been made available for the local government areas of Uralla, Gwydir and Tamworth in response to bushfires in January.
The assistance available for impacted landowners will be delivered through the jointly funded Commonwealth-State Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements (NDRRA).
The MP said that can include concessional interest rate loans and freight subsidies for farmers, as well as support to councils and non-profit organisations.
“I am pleased that the NSW and Federal Government Ministers and agencies worked closely to sign off on this Natural Disaster Declaration (NDD), it has been approved much quicker than is usual,” Mr Marshall said.
“I saw first-hand the widespread damage caused to pastureland, timbered country, fences, livestock and livelihoods during the height of the fire emergency in January.
“It is going to take a lot of effort and sweat to rebuild, and this assistance package will certainly go a long way toward providing extra support.
“I commend and thank those workers on the ground from the Local Land Services, Department of Primary Industries and of course, the Rural Fire Service, who have worked tirelessly throughout the emergency and its aftermath.”
A range of assistance is now available under the NDRRA to help affected communities and support the primary production sector and 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.
- 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.