Improve Australia's resilience to natural disasters and support recovery of impacted communities including: * $125.7 million over 5 years from 2022-23 (and $28.3 million per year ongoing) to uplift the capacity of the National Emergency Management Agency to support Australians during, and following, a disaster.
The Government will provide funding to improve Australia's resilience to natural disasters and support recovery of impacted communities including: * $125.7 million over 5 years from 2022-23 (and $28.3 million per year ongoing) to uplift the capacity of the National Emergency Management Agency to support Australians during, and following, a disaster. Funding from 2024-25 will be held in the Contingency Reserve, pending a review of the agency's funding requirements * $10.1 million over two years from 2023-24 to scope the capability needs to modernise Australia's emergency service communications to provide Commonwealth, and state and territory agencies high-speed and high-capacity mobile broadband services, to improve the operational effectiveness and safety of public safety personnel * $8.6 million in 2023-24 to supplement and maintain a national emergency management stockpile of disaster response resources * $8.0 million over 4 years from 2023-24 to continue to provide financial assistance to eligible New Zealanders in Australia following a disaster * $7.4 million over 4 years from 2023-24 (and $0.6 million per year ongoing) to establish and maintain a Disaster Recovery Management System * $7.2 million over two years from 2023-24 to extend mental health services supporting communities affected by disasters * $2.3 million in 2022-23 to extend the Regional Small Business Support Program Pilot until 30 June 2023 to continue existing support to regional small businesses, with costs met from within existing uncommitted resources of the National Emergency Management Agency * Funding to finalise building a new national cell broadcast messaging system to improve emergency warning communications, with the financial implications of this element not for publication (nfp) due to commercial sensitivities. The Government will also provide $200 million in 2023-24 for disaster resilience initiatives through the Disaster Ready Fund to address a broad range of natural hazards, infrastructure needs, and for systemic risk reduction projects. Funding for this element has already been provided for by the Government. The support outlined in this measure is in addition to previous assistance of $1.4 billion committed by the Commonwealth Government in response to multiple disaster events under Category C and D of the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements. The cost of this assistance will be met from funding previously included in the Contingency Reserve. This measure builds on the 2022-23 October Budget measure titled Disaster Support.