Two programs to build a stronger Toowoomba community have been successful under the Australian Government’s Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Grants program.
Federal Member for Maranoa David Littleproud today announced a $188,125 Strategic Fire Trails project to enhance public safety from bushfires and construct a network of strategic fire trails in the northern Toowoomba communities impacted by the Black Summer Bushfires in 2019.
“These fire trails will improve the bushfire preparedness of the local fire authorities with faster response to bushfires, faster implementation of fire-fighting and suppression measures, and greater safety through provision of additional escape routes for responding fire crews,” Mr Littleproud said.
Stage 3 of the Hampton Community Enterprise Kitchen also secured funding of $24,710 to build a stand-alone and transportable kitchen.
“Whilst the kitchen’s primary use will be servicing visitors and volunteers at the popular Hampton Art & Food Festival, its availability to emergency groups such as SES and RFS offers a much more expansive use, particularly in times of natural disasters,” Mr Littleproud said.
The Toowoomba 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 cross over multiple federal electorates and local government areas and include:
- Healthy Land & Water Ltd’s Queensland Fire & Biodiversity Consortium – working to create a set of strategic priority fire management actions using a long-term fire management approach ($4,364,569).
- 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).
- 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.
