Government announced extra funding for those hit by floods, blackouts
The state government has announced further assistance for people affected by wild weather and flooding around the state over the last week. Here’s what help is available.
Tasmania
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The state government has announced further assistance for people affected by wild weather and flooding around the state over the last week.
Visiting Beaconsfield in the state’s north on Wednesday, Premier Jeremy Rockliff and Community Services Minister Roger Jaensch announced a payment for households whose frozen food had spoiled during extended power outages.
“Today we’ve announced a $350 grant for households, emergency food relief grants to support households in need and we hope that is a suitable support during this particular time,” Mr Rockliff said.
“My understanding is that over 700 applications have already been received since 9 o’clock this morning and you would we expect that, once they are approved, the funds should be hitting bank accounts this afternoon.
“So a very quick application process and turnaround with the systems that we have employed.”
The Emergency Food Relief Package is in addition to the Emergency Assistance Grants for residents in the Derwent Valley, with 283 grants totalling $104,200 already approved.
Applications for the Emergency Food Relief Package can be made online via the Department of Premier and Cabinet – Community grants or via TasALERT.
The government also announced a $255,000 grant for Neighbourhood Houses Tasmania, supporting the 34 houses across the state and Loaves and Fishes and Foodbank will each receive $50,000.
Beaconsfield Neighbourhood House manager Jan Pennington said the community need over recent days had been acute.
“Monday morning we opened early, and we had a steady influx of people all day.
“We stayed open until seven o’clock, and we cooked tea for people but mainly they were wanting to get their phones charged and have showers.
“So that’s what we’ve been doing all week. We’re taking a booking system for the showers now because that’s been constant.
“They really appreciate it, people like to be looked after and it’s just like a nice, warm place to come they can talk to other people.
“The things they’ve talked about the most was about the food that they’ve lost in their freezers. But thankfully, that’s been sorted now.”
The federal government on Wednesday announced $7.6m through the Government’s flagship Disaster Ready Fund for 17 projects around Tasmania to improve emergency preparedness, and implement the SES Tasmania Storm Warning System and Emergency Redi workshops.
“The past few days throughout Tasmania has proved preparation is key when it comes to severe weather events,” Lyons MP Brian Mitchell said.
“It is great to see this funding going to regional areas like the Central Highlands and the East Coast, where it is harder for first responders to reach quickly.”
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