Emergency Response Fund tapped for flood resilience

The Federal Budget has boosted resilience funding, while focusing mainly on disaster recovery and support following the Queensland and NSW flooding catastrophe, as insurers continue to push for increased mitigation spending.

The Federal Government will release a further $150 million from the Emergency Response Fund (ERF) for recovery and post-disaster resilience measures for the NSW Northern Rivers region. The ERF is also being drawn down by $150 million in the current year, with funds split between NSW and Queensland.

Other measures include $1.7 million over two years for the National Resource Sharing Centre to facilitate disaster response coordination and an additional $116.4 million over three years through the Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Grant Program.

The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) welcomed the Northern Rivers funding, while pointing to its election policy document, which reiterates a call for Federal Government resilience investment of $200 million a year, matched by the states and territories.

“There are dozens of other communities in Australia that remain exposed and require similar assistance, and we look forward to working with all levels of Government to assist in resilience and mitigation efforts,” ICA CEO Andrew Hall said.

ICA supported a $9.9 billion investment in cyber security over 10 years, while raising concerns over a $2 billion expansion of the Home Guarantee Scheme.

The scheme, which allows people to enter the property market with a small deposit without needing lenders’ mortgage insurance (LMI), will more than double to 50,000 places a year, including 35,000 for first home buyers, 10,000 for buyers in a regional location and 5000 guarantees for single parents.

“By displacing a proportion of the LMI market, the cost of providing LMI to borrowers who do not access the scheme is potentially impacted,” ICA says.

Allianz Australia Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Nicholas Scofield says the ERF funding split between recovery and resilience for fiscal 2022-23 is not clear, but spending on resilience will “clearly fall short” of the level needed.

“When it comes to improving Australia’s resilience and adaption to increasing extreme weather events caused by climate change, the Budget is disappointing,” he said.

The Actuaries Institute says the budget emphasises significant spending on recovery over proactive investment in resilience, mitigation and adaptation measures to reduce such future outlays.

“While this is necessary in the current environment in which many Australians have very recently been impacted by natural disasters, greater investment in resilience measures is necessary for long-term sustainable impact,” CEO Elayne Grace said.