The Disaster Ready Fund (DRF) is the Australian Government’s flagship disaster risk reduction initiative. It will fund a diverse set of projects in partnership with Australian state, territory and local governments to deliver medium and long- term outcomes that support Australians to manage the physical, social and economic impacts of disasters caused by climate change and other natural hazards.
The objectives of the DRF are to:
- Increase the understanding of natural hazard disaster impacts, as a first step towards reducing disaster impacts in the future;
- Increase the resilience, adaptive capacity and/or preparedness of governments, community service organisations and affected communities to minimise the potential impact of natural hazards and avert disasters; and
- Reduce the exposure to risk, harm and/or severity of a natural hazard’s impacts, including reducing the recovery burden for governments and vulnerable or affected communities.
The DRF has been allocated $200 million per annum over five years from 2022-23. The ACT Government has a baseline funding allocation of $7.5 million annually for eligible projects and access to the greater funding pool.
Only state and territory governments can make a submission under the DRF. The submission can include project proposals from other organisations if they are endorsed by the ACT Government.
DRF Round One
Under Round One of the DRF, 187 projects nationally received Commonwealth investment. This includes 13 projects in the ACT. Details of Round One funded projects are on the NEMA website.
DRF Round Two
Round Two of the DRF closed on 20 March 2024.
The ACT Government is assessing all applications received and will provide a submission to NEMA by 29 April 2024.
The selection process for ACT project applications is outlined in the ACT DRF Round Two Administration Guidelines.
Announcements about successful projects are anticipated to be made by the Commonwealth Government by July 2024.
Further information
More information about the Disaster Ready Fund is available on the NEMA website.
If you want more information about DRF projects or applications in the ACT email DRF@act.gov.au.
