PM's speech may prove a Douglas Shire disaster
Federal funding
A new disaster-management report released late last month highlights the huge amount of work done by staff after natural disasters, in turn showing how devastating a proposed Federal Government disaster-funding cut would be, Douglas Shire Councillors say.
Just before the report was tabled in the most recent council meeting, however, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese flagged that he would not be backing down from his stance that the current 75/25 per cent funding model with the states should be changed to 50/50, saying it will cut bureaucracy and get money moving quicker.
Mayor Lisa Scomazzon said in the meeting a new DSC disaster-management plan contained in the council report showed how much money was needed after a natural disaster.
“It is so important that the Federal Government has to understand how much funding we need to be able to get our communities back up and running,” she said.
The Mayor’s speech came not long after Mr Albanese reinforced his desire to change the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements formula.
“What we’re about is getting money to local government, in particular, quicker with 50:50 funding guaranteed so that some of the bureaucracy which has been there in the wake of natural disasters is removed,” he said.
“What we’re doing is stepping up with these reforms, which we’ll continue to do.”
Since the Federal Government flagged in June a push to change the DRFA funding model, mayors from across Queensland have joined together to lobby it to not bring in the changes.
