Coalition questions use of Disaster Ready Fund for thermal curtains, mental health supports instead of mitigation infrastructure
Labor’s flagship billion-dollar program to reduce the impact of natural disasters is funding small projects like installing heatwave-proof curtains in households at the expense of long-term infrastructure projects that could reduce damage bills.
National
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Labor’s flagship billion-dollar program to reduce the impact of natural disasters is funding small projects like installing heatwave-proof curtains in households at the expense of long term infrastructure projects that could reduce damage bills.
The Coalition is calling for a review of the guidelines for the Disaster Ready Fund, which was revamped by the Albanese Government in 2022 to provide up to $200 million annually over five years to invest in “mitigation projects like flood levees, cyclone shelters, fire breaks and evacuation centres” around Australia.
But in the first two rounds of funding, successful projects have included non-infrastructure investments like multiple mental health initiatives, such as $643,000 for a bushfire kids program in NSW, grants for Canberra households to install thermal curtains to protect against heatwaves and $550,000 to investigate the removal of an infestation of willow trees in a Hobart river.
Opposition emergency management spokeswoman Perin Davey said she was “really frustrated and gravely concerned” about how the fund was being spent, given its initial “great intentions” to focus on “risk reduction and mitigation” through major capital works.
“With grants for things ranging from psychosocial interventions to heat reduction curtains for households – one has to ask how this is going to help reduce risk over the long term and also how it might reduce the pressures on things like insurance premiums,” she said.
Flood levee upgrades and firebreaks are among the hundreds of projects funded to date, but Ms Davey questioned whether some of the smaller non-infrastructure projects receiving Commonwealth dollars were a sign states and territories were buck-passing costs for initiatives they should be funding themselves.
“We’re not saying these things don’t need funding, but is this the right mechanism?” she said.
“We need to review the guidelines and make it absolutely clear that the fund is for physical risk reduction and mitigation, so for capital works and infrastructure that will reduce risk, rather than some of the welfare projects being funded currently.”
Emergency Management Minister Jenny McAllister said as climate change fuelled more intense and frequent natural disasters, the government was acting to “prepare and protect” communities.
“Reducing the impacts of disasters and increasing the resilience of communities across the nation means building hard infrastructure but also skilling up communities to reduce the impact of the next event,” she said.
Ms McAllister highlighted projects like the Queensland Household Resilience Program and Bushfire Resilience Rating Home Assessment App, which was designed to “educate and prepare households while also reducing insurance premiums”.
States and territories call for expressions of interest in the fund and then puts forward applications to the Commonwealth, which are assessed by an independent panel that considers factors like geographical spread and project type.
The fund guidelines are reviewed and updated at the end of each grant round.
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