Advocacy delivers new approach to resilience funding

Cr Barry Hughes - NWQROC Chair

With recent weather events my contribution theme this week is most timely.

Firstly, I’d like to extend our heartfelt thoughts to flood-impacted communities across the north and Far North, particularly our mates on the coast. We’re yet to see the full impact of flooding in recent weeks and know all too well the road to recovery is a long one.

We’re encouraged at this time in our region to be seeing our hard work advocating for and securing investment to build resilience against disasters resulting in projects in the pipeline or underway.

This week, the North West Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils welcomed a new approach to building resilience in our communities with Federal Minister for Emergency Management Jenny McAllister confirming successful projects for resilience project funding on 14 February.

“There was a lot of work behind the scenes from NWQROC, other Regional Organisations of Councils and QRA to deliver a new allocative approach for funding of this kind. ”

This latest in North Queensland Resilience Program funding, administered by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA), will support the delivery of regionally prioritised projects aimed at increasing resilience and reducing the impacts of future events on communities significantly impacted by flooding events in 2019 and 2023.

The successful projects go to the heart of the region’s ability to be resilient in the event of a disaster and include rehabilitation and upgrades to key infrastructure including roads, causeways, airstrips and community facilities - helping keep our communities and business safe and providing operational capacity through disaster events.

There was a lot of work behind the scenes from NWQROC, other Regional Organisations of Councils and QRA to deliver a new allocative approach for funding of this kind.

We negotiated with the QRA to deliver projects that, while within a council area, have benefits beyond the council boundaries to improve regional outcomes. These projects will mean we can more effectively protect our region’s communities, environment and economy during a disaster and know we’ll come out the other side in better shape.

For NWQROC and local councils this new approach delivers on advocacy work which at its core calls for engagement and understanding at a local and regional level on programs and investment. We have already done the work in our local and regional resilience plans, so this new approach is a logical step to put that work into action and implement those plans in a more strategic and longer-term way.

This stands in contrast to the traditional funding model where the funds are committed and through competitive bidding processes you may or may not be successful or adequately funded to meet your priority.

With guidelines from the department and a clear regional requirement, we knew where we stood – from the local level councils put forward their priorities to NWQROC for region-level consideration and approval. From there we were able to negotiate and lock in our priority projects with the department.

Our congratulations to QRA on the approach taken. We appreciate the efforts from the QRA team in working with councils to ensure our applications met requirements and deliver these important projects for our community.

NWQROC’s advocacy in this space continues with the final report of the Independent Review of Commonwealth Disaster Funding to improve disaster funding arrangements yet to be adopted.

Together with our colleagues in the Western Queensland Alliance of Councils (WQAC) the councils of the north west provided a submission to the review ahead of a final report being handed down late last year.

On initial assessment the report incorporates a number of the positions taken in the WQAC submission, however, there are areas of concern that require further investigation. The WQAC has provided a response to the final report requesting further consultation on the recommendations and highlighting the areas of concern.

The new funding delivery model demonstrates what can be achieved when government prioritises working with the regions, and we hope it stands as a framework going forward across all areas of investment.