News

Rugby league legend, Indigenous role model and former Queenslander of the Year Johnathan Thurston has been announced as the first ambassador for community disaster preparedness program Get Ready Queensland.

After becoming a Townsville local in 2005, he has experienced some of Queensland’s most extreme weather events including the North Queensland monsoonal flooding event in January 2019, Cyclone Yasi in 2011 and Cyclone Larry in 2006.

Residences that were affected by the 2018 Central Queensland Bushfires may be eligible for assistance of up to $10,000 to help pay for clean-up activities, damages or losses that are beyond the vicinity of the residential house.

Clean-up assistance can be used for the removal and disposal of debris, damaged material and deceased livestock, and repairing or replacing the fodder, fencing and essential water infrastructure.

Children’s physical, psychological and social welfare can be highly vulnerable to the impacts of disasters.

To empower young people and build their confidence in identifying and preparing for disasters in their homes and communities, the Australian Red Cross will be running the Pillowcase Project, funded by the Queensland Disaster Resilience Fund (QDRF).

Communities impacted by the Central Queensland Bushfires have received more than $1 million to fund community recovery and resilience projects.

These grants will support Central Queensland organisations and local councils to help their communities recover from the fires and build resilience in the face of future disasters.

$100 million is now available for communities impacted by the North and Far North Queensland Monsoon Trough to repair damaged infrastructure to a stronger standard, thanks to the Queensland Betterment Fund.

This is the largest pool of funding ever approved for Betterment in Australia, and for the first time has been made available for state owned infrastructure.

With the support of Queensland Reconstruction Authority, the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation (QYAC) partnered with stakeholders on Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island) to develop comprehensive bushfire management plans for the three townships of Mooloomba, Goompi, and Pulan Pulan (Point Lookout, Dunwich and Amity Point).

Between 22 November and 6 December 2018, Queenslanders faced a catastrophic bushfire event unlike anything this state had seen before.

1.4 million hectares of land burned statewide during the bushfire crisis, with 4200 firefighters and 59 aircraft using 12 million litres of suppressants to battle the disaster.

The Commonwealth has accepted Queensland’s proposal for a joint recovery package totalling $242 million.

This package includes funding for Betterment, business and industry support, riparian and coastal recovery and a resilience grants program.