MEDIA RELEASE
The Australian Government has provided funding to local community projects in the Richmond Region under the Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Grants program, with two projects receiving more than $1.7 million in support.
Senator for New South Wales, Perin Davey, said repurposing the old Byron Hospital into a new Byron Community Hub are among the 524 projects funded under the program.
Senator Davey 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,” Senator Davey said.
“The grants will fund a broad range of recovery and resilience projects, from social and community wellbeing right through to projects that support local jobs, small businesses and infrastructure.
“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.”
Senator Davey said local projects funded included:
• Byron Shire Council
Repurposing the old Byron Hospital into a new Byron Community Hub, to support Byron Shire’s capacity to recover from disasters such as bushfires, extreme weather events and pandemics.
• Tweed Shire Council
Funding to extend the employment of the existing Disaster Resilience Officer position, embedding processes within the Tweed & Byron Community Resilience Networks and Council’s frameworks and the combined Tweed Byron local emergency management arrangements.
Details of the funded projects are available on the National Recovery and Resilience Agency website at: https://recovery.gov.au/programs/black-summer-grants
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