Governments commit new funding to protect Australians from natural disasters

Canberra, Aug 28 Australia's federal, state and territory governments have committed new funding for projects to improve the nation's natural disaster defence.

Jenny McAllister, Minister for Emergency Management, announced on Wednesday that 164 projects will share in 387 million Australian dollar ($262.7 million) in funding under an initiative to better protect Australians from natural disasters, Xinhua news agency reported.

Of the funding, 200 million AUD ($136 million) will come from the second round of distributions from the Disaster Ready Fund (DRF), with the rest to be contributed by the states and territories.

McAllister said that Australians should expect more frequent and intense natural disasters as a result of climate change.

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"This means better outcomes for communities while reducing clean up and recovery costs."

Established in 2023, the DRF is the federal government's flagship initiative to improve natural disaster resilience and risk reduction.

Projects that were awarded funding on Wednesday include levee upgrades, coastline restoration and warning system upgrades.

An emergency evacuation centre in the state of Western Australia will receive 15.7 million AUD ($10.6 million) for upgrade works to make it cyclone-ready, while 6.8 million AUD ($4.6 million) has been allocated for flood works in western New South Wales.

The DRF was set up with an initial 1 billion AUD ($680 million) to spend over five years. The federal government in 2023 committed 200 million AUD in funding for more than 180 projects under the first round of DRF distributions.

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