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Bushfire states face $451m disaster funding cut

John Kehoe and Hannah Wootton

Jan 10, 2020 – 12.00am

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The Commonwealth Grants Commission plans to cut $451 million in disaster recovery funding for bushfire-ravaged states New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, to help pay for earlier extreme weather events in disaster-prone Queensland.

In unfortunate timing, the independent commission's annual review of the federal government's GST distribution to the states proposed stripping natural disaster funding by $207 million for Victoria, $170 million for NSW and $74 million for South Australia due to a change on how expenses are assessed.

John Kehoe is economics editor at Parliament House, Canberra. He writes on economics, politics and business. John was Washington correspondent covering Donald Trump’s first election. He joined the Financial Review in 2008 from Treasury.

Hannah Wootton is a Rear Window columnist, based in Melbourne.