GRANTS OPEN FOR FLOOD-DAMAGED CLUBS

Federal Member for Wide Bay Llew O’Brien is urging flood-damaged sporting clubs to lodge an Expression of Interest for grants to help rebuild and better prepare for the next flooding event. 

Eligible not-for-profit community sporting clubs located in the council areas of Noosa, Gympie, Fraser Coast, and Cherbourg are all invited to apply for a share of $45 million, Mr O’Brien said. 

“Equipment and resources owned by not-for-profits across Wide Bay totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars were damaged. Many community sporting facilities were submerged,” he said.

“Hundreds of netball players have been benched since Gympie and District Netball courts were left badly cracked. 

“The flooding triggered an enormous volunteer effort for the initial clean-up, but community groups and councils are still coping with the lasting damage.”

Expressions of Interest are now being called for the $45 million Community and Recreational Assets Recovery and Resilience Program, jointly funded by the Australian and Queensland Governments, to assist in the clean-up and repair of community and recreational assets damaged by the extraordinary disaster events of the 2021-22 financial year.

“This funding will help councils and not-for-profit sport and active recreation associations to clean up, repair, or build the resilience of eligible damaged assets and facilities,” Mr O’Brien said. 

“It will also help repair or replace disaster-impacted community facilities that are inadequately insured or uninsured.

“I urge all community groups to check their eligibility and submit their Expression of Interest as soon as possible.”

The program is split into two stages. Expressions of Interest applications close on July 8 2022. 

Repair and replacement are a priority under this program, and resilience and mitigation and/or betterment works are subject to the available budget.

The funding supports local governments and eligible recreation organisations affected by Southern Queensland rain and flooding between November 10 and December 3 2021 and South East Queensland rain and flooding from February 22 2022 and onwards.

The Community and Recreational Assets Recovery and Resilience Program is part of a $150 million Commonwealth and State funded Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements program.

For more information and to apply, please see this link.