Betterment Fund 2019
Program purpose
The purpose of the jointly funded (50:50) Australian and Queensland Government Betterment Program is to build back more resilient essential infrastructure damaged by the devastating impacts of the North and Far North Queensland Monsoon Trough, 25 January – 14 February 2019 (Monsoon Trough), and reduce the impact of future events on essential infrastructure and the community.
The Betterment Program is one component of a jointly funded, exceptional circumstances Category C & D funding package, approved under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA) 2018.
The key objectives of the Betterment Program are to provide Category D DRFA funding to enable state agencies and local governments to:
- access funding that is in addition to DRFA Category B, Reconstruction of Essential Public Assets (REPA) funding available to restore event damaged assets to pre-disaster function
- use the total funding to build back better, more resilient essential public infrastructure
- contribute to the objectives of the Queensland Disaster Resilience and Mitigation Investment Framework (QDRMIF), and the Queensland Strategy for Disaster Resilience (QSDR):
- Queenslanders understand their disaster risk
- Strengthened disaster risk management
- Queenslanders are invested in disaster risk reduction
- There is continuous improvement in disaster preparedness, response and recovery.
Administering agency
Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA)
Eligible applicants
Local governments and state agencies activated for DRFA for the Monsoon Trough
Guidelines
The following guidelines provide detailed information about the 2019 Betterment program.
Lodging a detailed submission
Betterment submissions can now be prepared and lodged with QRA via the MARS Portal, using the following steps:
- Ensure your MARS Portal access has been set up. Refer to the MARS Portal user access form to request access if needed.
- Create a new REPA submission in MARS using a REPA submission form.
- Contact your Regional Liaison Officer (RLO) to request additional Betterment fields in MARS.
- On the line items page, populate the Betterment column using the drop-down options to identify funding category per line item.
- Attach the Project proposal form – Betterment 2019 as a supporting document
- Validate and lodge submission as per normal process - Refer to the MARS Portal user guide - Activation and submission preparation for more information on building and lodging submissions.
Alternatively detailed submissions can still be sent to the submissions inbox submissions@qra.qld.gov.au using the REPA submission form and project proposal form referred to above. RLOs can assist applicants to transfer data to the REPA form from the previously available betterment form, if required.
Key dates
Lodging of detailed submissions close: 30 November 2019