Issued by Senator the Hon Murray Watt - former Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

Joint media release: More than $100 million in government flood support

14 March 2023

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Minister for Emergency Management, Senator the Hon Murray Watt
Queensland Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries and Minister for Rural Communities, the Hon Mark Furner MP

Thousands of South East Queensland primary producers, small businesses and non-profit organisations impacted by flood events in the first half of 2022 have made the most of available grants and loans to help them continue to recover.

Extraordinary Disaster Assistance Recovery Grants and Disaster Assistance Loans with a total value of $134.6million have been provided under the jointly funded Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.

So far, primary producers have accessed 4018 grants totalling $67.6 million and 15 loans for a total of $1.94 million.

For small businesses, 3277 grants totalling $52.7 million have been made and 44 loans issued totalling $6 million.

Non-profit organisations have accessed 496 grants totalling $6.3 million and 1 loan of $100,000 to help them restore their services.

The assistance provides grants of up to $75,000 and loans of up to $250,000 for primary producers to help them replace or restore farm infrastructure damaged or lost through the flooding event.

For small businesses or non-profit groups, grants of up to $50,000 can be accessed with loans up to $100,000 for non-profit groups and $250,000 available for small businesses.

Applications remain open for the following events:

Southern Queensland Flooding, 6 – 20 May 2022
South East Queensland Rainfall and Flooding, 22 February - 5 April 2022
Ex-Tropical Cyclone Seth, 2 – 10 January 2022

The application period for primary producers, small businesses and non-profits affected by the 2022 floods to apply for Disaster Assistance Recovery Grants has been extended to June 2023.

Those affected by the South East Queensland floods from 22 February to 5 April 2022 now have until 9 June 2023 to apply, while those affected by the Southern Queensland floods from 6 to 20 May 2022 have until 2 June 2023

For information on applications and assistance visit www.qrida.qld.gov.au.

Information on disaster assistance can be found on the Queensland Reconstruction Authority’s website at www.qra.qld.gov.au.

Quotes attributable to Federal Minister for Emergency Management, Murray Watt:

We saw significant loss and damage to infrastructure, livestock, crops and soil including the disruption of critical supply chains during these flood events.

Thanks to our well-established Commonwealth-State disaster funding arrangements, this assistance was quickly made available to help with immediate recovery needs.

Grants and loans are a key component of disaster recovery, making a huge difference to businesses, primary producers and not-for-profits – when they get back on their feet, their communities and industries reap the benefits, as does the nation as a whole.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries and Minister for Rural Communities Mark Furner:

A year later and it’s pleasing to see how many grants and loans have been made available to help see our producers through this difficult period.

We worked closely with industry and producers to gather impact information through our online Disaster Impact Survey tool, which, allows farmers to directly input farm damage. This significantly sped up the application process.

I want to acknowledge the efforts of our staff, producers and also key organisations including AgForce, the Queensland Farmers Federation, and local governments as well.

They played such an important role in gathering information on flood impacts with their members and the community.

Case Study

Lockyer Valley Dairy Farmer Luke Stock is back to full production a year after floodwaters inundated three quarters of his property.