News

A number of Queensland initiatives have been awarded for their outstanding contribution to building community resilience to disasters at the 2019 Resilient Australia Awards in Adelaide today.

Sunshine Coast Regional Council took first prize for the National Local Government Award for its Get Ready Schools program which delivers interactive presentations to local schools. The program aims to empower students to help build their community’s ability to prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters. 

The Get Ready Queensland team has been on the road in North West Queensland this week talking with locals about how they prepare for severe weather and disasters.

The trip has been a great opportunity to get a better understanding of local communities and their needs heading into disaster season. As part of the trip, the team met with councils and schools in Richmond, McKinlay, Cloncurry and Mt Isa.

The Get Ready Queensland team and ambassador Johnathan Thurston have officially launched 2019 Get Ready Queensland Week (13-19 October).

As Queenslanders, we are accustomed to natural disasters and know all too well they can strike anywhere, and at any time, with little to no warning.

Congratulations to the finalists and winners announced at the 2019 Get Ready Queensland Resilient Australia Awards on Thursday 19 September. 

The awards recognised projects that have helped Queensland communities better prepare for natural disasters and emergencies. The 2019 Get Ready Queensland Resilient Australia Awards were highly competitive with a record 34 entries across six categories. 

It was great to see all of the innovative projects from across Queensland, working to build this state’s resilience to natural disasters.

The Queensland Government is continuing to support communities impacted by the historic monsoon flooding that devastated farmers, industry and individuals earlier this year.

The North and Far North Queensland Monsoon Trough State Recovery Plan 2019 – 2021 outlines the state’s long-term commitment to helping communities recover, rebuild and reconnect from the floods.

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.