Disaster Ready Fund - Round Two 2024-2025

Established by the Commonwealth Government, the DRF is a funding program developed to help communities protect themselves against the impacts of natural hazards across Australia. The Commonwealth Government, via the DRF, has committed to provide up to $1 billion over a period of five years, from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2028.

Each financial year, up to $200 million will be made available to states and territories through the DRF and each jurisdiction will receive a baseline $7.5 million under round two.

1. increase the understanding of natural hazard disaster impacts, as a first step towards reducing disaster impacts in the future;
2. increase the resilience, adaptive capacity and/or preparedness of governments, community service organisations and affected communities to minimise the potential impact of natural hazards and avert disasters; and
3. reduce the exposure to risk, harm and/or severity of a natural hazard’s impacts, including reducing the recovery burden for governments and vulnerable and/or affected communities.

These objectives are underpinned by the DRF Investment Principles which guide DRF investment decisions. The Investment Principles are incorporated into DRF activity types and selection criteria, to encourage projects that are:

1. Risk informed: Proposals draw on evidence of disaster risk (e.g. risk assessments) when outlining case for funding.

2. Aligned with plans: Proposals align with existing national, state and territory, and local hazard mitigation and resilience or adaptation plans, or provide evidence that the planning process is underway. Where plans do not exist or are in development, proposals could support the development of those plans.

3. Priority targeted: Proposals demonstrate alignment with the Second National Action Plan National Actions.

4. Diverse and equitable: Investment decisions support outcomes across a broad range of natural hazard and project types, geographic areas (including both urban and regional/remote locations), domains (including the social, built and natural environments), and consider the DRF’s potential population impact (including a project’s relative per-capita benefit).

Only Australian state and territory governments are eligible under the DRF to apply for funding via an overarching application comprising all project proposals. Applications for Queensland will be managed by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA).

Queensland State Agencies, non-government organisations, peak bodies, local governments and community groups are eligible to apply through QRA by submitting an application form to QRA to be considered for funding.

Application must be submitted to QRA by no later than 5pm on Wednesday 20 March 2024 by email to submissions@qra.qld.gov.au

QRA will review all project applications against the eligibility criteria and provide all suitable and highly suitable applications to the Australian Government for final determination. Applications will be submitted by QRA to the National Emergency Management Agency by 5pm on Monday 29 April 2024

To submit a project application for the DRF, all projects must abide by the requirements specified within the DRF Guidelines and four key documents need to be completed including:

• DRF Project Application Form
• DRF Project Logic Template
• DRF Budget Template
• Additional application information form

All forms can be found on the QRA website. Any applications that have not completed all mandatory documentation, cannot be submitted.

There is no maximum or minimum limit on project applications.

Yes. The Australian Government requires a minimum 50 per cent mandatory co-contribution for all projects (whether financially or in-kind) and it must be included at time of submission.

Co-contributions can include, but are not limited to:

1. A confirmed direct cash funding co-contribution,
2. in-kind costs, such as wages directly attributable to the delivery of the project, and/or supplies, materials, and specific equipment required to execute the project.
3. funds already invested in a program or project on or any time after 1 July 2019, and only where the Commonwealth’s contribution from the DRF is expected to extend or enhance that program or project subject to alignment with the DRF objectives.

Any other financial costs to make up the 50 per cent co-contribution must be met within the project applicants internal resources or through partnerships with other organisations.

Requests for waivers or co-contribution reductions will only be considered by the Australian Government in exceptional circumstances at the discretion of its Program Delegate. Further information is contained within the guidelines.

Contingency costs are an eligible expenditure and can account for unforeseen financial circumstances, such as increased labour and supply costs. Contingency can be applied to individual budget items (or groups) or the overall project, but a clear explanation needs to be provided to justify the contingency amount and inclusion and must be commensurate with the size and complexity of the proposed project.

Contingency costs form part of the entire budget and subsequently are required to be considered when calculating the 50 per cent co-contribution.

The maximum project period is 3 years from NEMA’s written endorsement of the relevant Implementation Plan.

A Project cannot receive funding twice. However, projects that have previously received full or part funding for a previous project phase, that is not included in the scope for this DRF project, are still eligible to receive funding from the Commonwealth under the DRF, as long as the DRF project is a standalone project with clear scope, different from previous phase(s).

QRA will prioritise projects that meet the Queensland Disaster Resilience and Mitigation Investment Framework.

Assessment of the state application and awarding of funding will be coordinated by the Australian Government.

The Second National Action Plan (Second NAP) is Australia's guiding authority to reduce disaster risk. It isalso the Commonwealth’s implementation plan for the National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework (NDRRF). The Second NAP identifies 24 National Actions that will progress implementation of the NDRRF. When applying for funding in round 2 of the Disaster Ready Fund, applicants will need to demonstrate how their project aligns with the Second NAP. NEMA has created a factsheet (link below) that explains the Second NAP further, including some examples of how a project might demonstrate alignment with the plan.

NEMA are encouraging applications that consider the needs and perspectives of cohorts at disproportionate disaster risk. NEMA has created a factsheet (link below) that provides further information, including some examples of cohorts at disproportionate risk.

NEMA encourages anyone developing a DRF project proposal to consider the needs and perspectives of First Nations people in all DRF project proposal design and (if successful) delivery. NEMA has created a factsheet (link below) that provides further guidance on consultation requirements.

Multi-jurisdictional and national projects involve collaboration and delivery across multiple (or all) states and/or territories. The process for submitting these projects is outlined in the funding guidelines. NEMA has created a factsheet (link below) to provide further information on multi-jurisdictional projects.