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Natural disasters or terrorist acts can result in large-scale expenditure in the form of emergency and recovery assistance. To assist with this financial burden, the Australian and Western Australian governments have joint arrangements in place to provide financial assistance in certain circumstances. These arrangements are referred to as Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).
In Western Australia, these arrangements are implemented as the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements Western Australia (DRFAWA). The Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) administers the DRFAWA on behalf of the WA State Government.
Recovery from disasters is a shared responsibility between individuals, households, businesses, communities and governments. The arrangements are designed as a safety net when costs to undertake recovery activities from an eligible disaster become significant. They are not intended to fund every possible relief and recovery measure.
For assistance to be made available under the DRFAWA, the event must meet all three of the following criteria:
DFES coordinates all communication with the Australian Government and confirms whether a disaster is deemed eligible. A joint media statement from the Australian and Western Australian governments is released notifying when an eligible disaster has been activated under the DRFAWA and listing the relevant local government areas.
Please refer to the DRFAWA Activation Process Factsheet for further information on what to do if a local government or State Government agency (essential public asset owners/operators) has been impacted or is likely to be impacted by an eligible disaster.
If you represent a local government or State agency that has been impacted by a disaster and believe the above criteria have been met, please complete the DRFAWA Preliminary Event Notification Form and email it to drfawa@dfes.wa.gov.au
The types of funding assistance available under the DRFAWA for eligible disasters are referred to as assistance measures and are separated into four categories.
Includes emergency assistance for communities, individuals and families.
Includes assistance to small businesses and primary producers, State Government agencies and local governments, including assistance to repair or reconstruct essential public assets and counter-disaster operations.
Is intended to support a holistic approach to the recovery of regions, communities or sectors severely affected by an eligible disaster. This assistance may be provided via community recovery funds and/or recovery grants for small businesses and primary producers due to exceptional circumstances.
Assistance is made available to alleviate distress or damage due to exceptional circumstances.
Assistance measures are provided based on the identified needs following the impacts of an eligible disaster and may be different each time the DRFAWA is activated. Category C and D assistance measures are only made available in situations where it can be demonstrated that the impacts caused by the eligible disaster were extraordinary and there is a need for additional assistance to aid the long-term recovery.
