The past week has been a national disaster for much of Australia’s eastern most parts and the financial toll is likely to run into the billions of dollars.
Thousands of homes and businesses have been destroyed and people have lost belongings. Numerous lives have also been lost.
S&P Global Ratings has predicted the floods would result in $1 billion to $2 billion worth of insurance losses, with the real cost of all goods – insured or otherwise – likely to be much higher.
Insurance is a critical thing to have right now, but not everyone has been able to afford to keep those repayments going due to COVID-19 hardship.
The good news is that there are a number of grants available to help those who don’t have insurance.
We’ve collected as many as we could find below and the list continues to go and be updated.
According to the grant support service Grant’d and Services NSW and the Queensland Government, there are however significant financial grants available to help those in need ranging from a few hundred dollars to help with groceries to up to $75,000 for property damage.
New South Wales
A number of hardship grants are being published on Services NSW and we expect this will continue into the clean up. Loans are also now available and can be found on this NSW Government disaster declarations website
- Primary producers: Concessional loans up to $130,000 and Transport subsidies up to $15,000
- Small business: Concessional loans up to $130,000
- Not-for-profit organisations: Concessional loans up to $25,000
- Sporting clubs: Concessional loans up to $10,000
- Small Business grants up to $50,000: This is a register your interest at this stage at this Services NSW website
- Telstra Assistance Package: Assistance to those who have lost services following the severe storms and major flooding across eastern parts of New South Wales. Telstra: 1800 888 888
- Banks: Various banks such as ANZ, NAB, CBA, and Suncorp have announced assistance for flood impacted customers whether they be individuals or businesses.
Queensland
- Emergency Hardship Assistance | $180 per person, up to $900 for a family of 5. Available as a contribution to support those directly impacted by a disaster and unable to meet immediate essential needs such as food, clothing, medical supplies, or temporary accommodation.
- Structural Assistance Grant | Up to $10,995 for singles or $14,685 for couples/families. If you’re uninsured or unable to claim insurance, you may be eligible for a one-off payment to contribute towards repairs that will make your home safe and secure.
- Essential Household Contents Grant | Up to $1,765 for singles, or $5,300 for couples/families. To your replacement or repairing of essential household contents such as beds, linen and whitegoods that have been lost or damaged in a disaster where you are uninsured or are unable to claim insurance.
- Essential Services Safety and Reconnection Grant | $200 and/or up to $4,200. If your essential services (such as electricity, gas, water, sewerage or septic system) were affected by the disaster and you are uninsured or unable to claim insurance, you may be able to claim up to $200 towards a safety inspection for each affected service, plus up to $4,200 for any repair works needed for reconnection.
- Transport and motoring assistance | Various forms of transport and motoring assistance is available for individuals and businesses in the affected disaster area. This could include assistance with registration and licensing.
- Disaster Assistance Loans | Up to $250,000 across 10 years
Disaster affected primary producers, small businesses and non-profits can apply for funds to support their re-establishment of operations. - Essential Working Capital Loans | Up to $100,000 across 10 years. Secured loan to cover working capital expenses such as salaries, wages, rent, rates, creditor payments, and goods essential to business operations such as fuel.
- Primary Producer Grants and Subsidies | Eligible primary producers can apply for funding to offset the costs of moving emergency fodder for livestock, relocating building or fencing materials, machinery or other equipment, moving animals purchased to restock after a disaster. Other grants are available for primary producers across the areas of farm management, replanting, restocking, and recovery/resilience.
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