Almost $2 million to South Burnett communities under National Bushfire Recovery Funding

February 15, 2022

Two programs to build a stronger South Burnett community have been successful under the Australian Government’s Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Grants program.

Federal Member for Maranoa David Littleproud today announced a $1.6 million project to establish a local led economic and social recovery and resilience program and a $300,000 project to build bushfire resilience in Cherbourg and surrounds.

“These targeted programs will drive greater community resilience from future bushfires and other natural hazards and support the emotional, social, economic and physical well-being recovery of the South Burnett Community,” Mr Littleproud said.

“The Community Connection – Local Built project will include a series of priority programs and a small grants program to support recovery and resilience.

“The Cherbourg & Surrounds Bushfire Resilience Project will significantly reduce the danger of loss-of-life and catastrophic fire damage to the homes and buildings of the Cherbourg Aboriginal Community and surrounding communities and towns.”

The South Burnett projects are among 524 projects funded under the program.

Mr Littleproud said the overall program funding was boosted by $110 million to $390 million to further support communities around Australia to recover from the 2019-20 bushfires.

“As part of the now $2.2 billion National Bushfire Recovery Fund, the Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Grants program is backing projects which the affected communities have said will best support their ongoing recovery,” he said.

“It was important that we funded projects based on need and merit and which offered a lasting and tangible impact, tailored to local needs and conditions. The quality of the projects funded shows that our ‘locally led’ approach works.

“We understand that recovery from bushfires takes time, and we will continue to support impacted communities through their recovery from the devastating Black Summer bushfires of 2019-2020.”

Several additional projects will cross over multiple federal electorates and local government areas and include:

1. Red Cross Recovery Officers and volunteers will deliver recovery and psychosocial training to individuals, communities and groups and work with communities to strengthen resilience to future disasters ($7,256,492).

2. The Black Summer Bushfire Remediation and Resilience in the Burnett Mary project will run activities to help rebuild community connectivity and increase capacity and resilience ($3,201,862).

3. New England North West Health (HealthWISE) will work with communities in 16 LGAs to address the impact of trauma experienced following the bushfires ($3.6 million).

4. The Green Rebuild Toolkit project will empower and support fire-ravaged communities to rebuild their homes in a climate-resilient way ($161,399).

Details of the funded projects are available on the National Recovery and Resilience Agency website here.