The deadline to apply for an Extraordinary Disaster Assistance Recovery Grant (EDARG) has been extended to 10 March 2023! Up to $75,000 is available for primary producers and $50,000 for small businesses and not-for-profit organisations.

South East Queensland primary producers, businesses, and non-profit organisations impacted by rainfall and flooding between February and April this year have more time to apply and access the support they need as they continue to recover.

Grants to assist with clean-up

Designed to assist with the costs of clean-up and reinstatement, the grants are jointly funded by the Commonwealth and Queensland governments under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).

In mid-November, the Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries and the Minister for Rural Communities announced an extension to the application deadline for SEQ Rainfall and Flooding 2022 Extraordinary Disaster Assistance Recovery Grant (EDARG).

The extension is great news to South East Queensland primary producers, businesses, and non-profit organisations impacted by rainfall and flooding between February and April 2022.

After a disaster, it is not necessarily people’s first thought to apply for a recovery grant. The Australian Government gave the extension to ensure eligible Queenslanders have time to access the support they need as they continue to recover. It is meant to alleviate the constraints and the pressures the people affected by this year’s floods are facing.

Eligible clean-up, reinstatement activities, and emergency measures include:

• Equipment and materials to undertake clean-up.
• Additional labour costs (above and beyond normal wage expenditure, i.e. day-to-day staffing).
• Disposing of damaged goods and injured or dead livestock, including associated costs.
• Repairs to buildings (other than housing).
• Fencing is not covered by any other assistance.
• Reconditioning/repairing essential plant and equipment.
• Salvaging crops, grain, and feeds.
• Purchase or hire/lease costs for equipment essential to the immediate resumption of the business.
• Payment for tradespeople to conduct safety inspections.
• Essential repairs to premises and internal fittings that are not covered by insurance.

Are you eligible for the Rainfall and Flooding 2022 Recovery Grants?

To be eligible, the applicant must:

• Be a primary producer.
• Hold an Australian Business Number (ABN) and have held that ABN at the time of the eligible disaster.
• Have a primary production enterprise that is located in the defined area for the eligible disaster that has suffered direct damage as a result of the eligible disaster.
• Have been engaged in carrying on the primary production enterprise when affected by the eligible disaster.
• Be primarily responsible for meeting the costs claimed in the application.
• For costs relating to 3.1 g) (v), (vi) and (vii) on the application provide satisfactory evidence of the loss of damage.
• Intend to re-establish their primary production enterprise in the defined disaster area for the eligible disaster.

An applicant may also be eligible for an exceptional circumstances grant if both of the following apply:

• The applicant’s primary production enterprise is located outside the defined disaster area for the eligible disaster but is carried on at least some time regularly.
• Plant or equipment of the primary production enterprise situated in the defined disaster area has been damaged as a result of the eligible disaster.

More information is available on the QRIDA website

On this website, you can also check the EDARG guidelines and application form, or call 1800 623 946.

Information on disaster assistance can be found via the Australian Government’s Disaster Assist website at www.disasterassist.gov.au or on the QRA (Queensland Reconstruction Authority) website at www.qra.qld.gov.au.

Sources: More time to apply for recovery grants media release, Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries and Minister for Rural Communities – The Honourable Mark Furner (15/11/2022); Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority (QRIDA) website (www.qrida.qld.gov.au).