Special Disaster Grants

Special Disaster Grants - NSW Severe Weather and Flooding November 2021 and January 2022

Grants flooded paddocks and sky reflection

Support for primary producers impacted by the floods and severe weather that occurred in declared natural disaster areas from November 2021 and January 2022. 

On this page

Key information

  • Status: Closed
  • Grant amount: Up to $50,000
  • Application opened: 1 December 2021
  • Application closed: 20 April 2022

Program objective

This Special Disaster Grant aims to support eligible primary producers impacted by severe weather and flood events that occurred from November 2021 and during January 2022, providing financial assistance to help cover the cost of immediate clean-up, repairs to infrastructure and reinstatement of the primary production enterprise.

This program is funded and administered by Rural Assistance Authority.

Eligibility

Who can apply

NSW primary producers impacted by severe weather and flood events that occurred from November 2021 and during January 2022, who are in a local government area declared for AGRN 1001, 996 and/or 987 may apply for the Special Disaster Grant to support recovery.

To be eligible for the Special Disaster Grant, you must:

  • be a primary producer
  • draw at least 50% of your gross income from your primary production enterprise
  • contribute a part of your labour to the primary production enterprise
  • hold an active Australian Business Number (ABN) and have held that ABN at the time of this event
  • have a primary production enterprise located in the defined area that has suffered direct damage as a result of this event
  • have been engaged in carrying on the primary production enterprise when affected by this event
  • lodge an application by the closing date shown on the RAA website
  • intend to re-establish or continue the primary production enterprise.

For details, please refer to the guidelines:

Types of projects funded under this grant

You can use your grant for the following items associated with the event:

  • help pay for the costs of clean up, reinstatement activities and emergency measures associated with the immediate recovery of your primary production enterprise
  • hire or lease equipment or materials to clean premises, property or equipment
  • remove and dispose of debris, damaged goods or materials, including injured or dead livestock
  • repair or replace fencing and/or other essential property infrastructure
  • purchase and transport fodder or feed for livestock
  • replace livestock
  • replace lost or damaged plants, salvage crops, repair or restore fields
  • repair, recondition or replace essential plant or equipment (physical assets) to return infrastructure to its previous standard, or to a standard that improves future resilience
  • maintain the health of livestock
  • pay wages or labour costs of contractors, casuals or temporary staff who are engaged for clean-up and reinstatement activities
  • pay the costs of additional hours (overtime or extra hours/days) worked by permanent employees to assist with clean-up and reinstatement activities
  • repair buildings (except dwellings, unless they are used for staff accommodation).

Please refer to the

File

SDG Guidelines January 2022 AGRN 996 and AGRN 1001 (PDF 2.58MB)

and

File

SDG Guidelines November 2021 AGRN 987 (PDF 581.43KB)

.

Who can’t apply

You will not be eligible for a grant, or part of a grant, if:

  • you have received, or have been approved to receive, financial assistance for costs associated with the items described in the program guidelines, from another government assistance scheme, under the same ABN.
  • you have already applied for the same event in relation to the same property.

The following costs are ineligible:

  • damage to dwellings
  • damages that are covered by insurance noting you may be eligible for a grant for the portion of costs that are not covered by your insurance, or for amounts in excess of the value insured
  • expansion projects, or areas that were not in active production at the time of the event. However, this does not prevent investing to improve future resilience through the use of more durable materials or design
  • loss of income.

Most recent recipients

All recipients (65)

What your application needs to include

You can download the

File

SDG Guidelines January 2022 AGRN 996 and AGRN 1001 (PDF 2.58MB)

and

File

SDG Guidelines November 2021 AGRN 987 (PDF 581.43KB)

for details.

 

1

Prepare your application with this checklist

Applicants must complete the online application form and attach a copy of the following documentation:

  • the most recent tax returns and financial statements for the applying entity and individual tax returns for all members of the business
  • the most recent local government area rates notice (council rates notice)
  • quotes, estimates, photos and tax invoices (if available)
  • a current aquaculture permit (if applicable)

If you have previously been approved for assistance through the Rural Assistance Authority (RAA) and provided the above documents in the past 12 months, you may not need to provide them again.

Please refer to the

File

SDG Guidelines January 2022 AGRN 996 and AGRN 1001 (PDF 2.58MB)

and

File

SDG Guidelines November 2021 AGRN 987 (PDF 581.43KB)

.

2

Address the eligibility criteria

To be eligible for the grant, you must:

  • be a primary producer
  • derive at least 50% of your gross income from the primary production enterprise
  • contribute a part of your labour to the primary production enterprise
  • hold an Australian Business Number (ABN) and have held that ABN at the time of the event
  • have a primary production enterprise located in the defined area for the event that has suffered direct damage as a result of the event and
  • have been engaged in carrying on the primary production enterprise when affected by the event and have lodged an application by the closing date as listed on the RAA website
  • intend to re-establish or continue the primary production enterprise.

You may also be eligible for a grant if:

  • your primary production enterprise is located outside the defined disaster area for the event
    • but is carried on at least sometimes on a regular basis in the area; and
    • plant or equipment of the primary production enterprise situated in the defined disaster area has been damaged or livestock has died as a result of the event.
  • you derive at least 50 per cent of your total gross income from primary production including value-added products (eg wine) made directly from raw produce grown by you.

Where your income from primary production is less than 50 per cent of your total income, you can demonstrate that in the ordinary course of business you would meet that requirement, but:

  • your production income is currently reduced due to seasonal conditions or biosecurity events; and/or
  • due to long lead times to full production, you expect to earn such an amount of income within a three to eight year period, taking into account the nature of the industry.

Where two or more independent and separately owned and registered primary producers operate from the same property, each primary producers may receive a maximum grant to the maximum available providing applicants can demonstrate that:

  • they are independent and separately owned and registered with their own ABN from the other primary producer(s) on that property
  • they are eligible for the grant in their own right (including the requirement that they derive at least 50% of their gross income from the primary production enterprise per 3.1 b);
  • they are claiming for different expenses to the other primary producer(s) who are operating on the same property; and d) the expenses that they are claiming are essential to the operation of their primary production enterprise.

Eligible separate businesses

Applicants who operate their primary production enterprise under a single ABN on separate properties in different locations may apply for assistance up to the maximum amount available for the event for each eligible business.

Consideration of eligible separate primary production enterprises may cover:

  • the staffing arrangements of the separate primary production enterprises;
  • whether the primary production enterprises have their own plant, equipment or stock;
  • the accounting arrangements of the separate primary production enterprises;
  • whether the separate primary production enterprises operate under their own trading names; v. the commercial scale, viability and autonomy of each primary production enterprises.
Eligible items and activitiesEvidence you must provide to claim
a) the costs of clean up, reinstatement activities and emergency measures associated with the immediate recovery of your primary production enterpriseValid tax invoice and proof of payment
b) Hiring or leasing equipment or materials to clean premises, property or equipment.Lease agreement, valid tax invoice and proof of payment
c) Removing and disposing of debris, damaged goods, materials including injured or dead livestock.Valid tax invoice and proof of payment.
d) Repairing or replacing fencing and/or other essential property infrastructure.Valid tax invoice and proof of payment.
e) Purchasing and transporting fodder or feed for livestock.Valid tax invoice and proof of payment
f) Replacing livestock (including oyster spat).

Evidence may include:

  • NLIS Tags numbers,
  • LLS land and stock return,
  • letter from a veterinarian if animals are euthanised,
  • livestock schedule from your accountant
  • tax invoices as evidence of purchase of oyster stock
  • evidence of a history of wild oyster spat catching
g) Replacing lost or damaged plants, salvaging crops, repairing or restoring fields

Evidence must include:

  • Details of when the original crop was planted and how much has been damaged (ha), and
  • Proof of input costs originally outlaid through valid tax invoices and proof of payment, and
  • A schedule of costs to reinstate the crop stating when work is to be undertaken.
h) Repair, recondition or replace essential plant or equipment (physical assets) to return infrastructure to its previous standard, or to a standard that improves future resilience.Valid tax invoice and proof of payment and evidence that plant and equipment was damaged beyond repair to claim replacement.
i) Maintaining the health of livestockValid tax invoice and proof of payment.

j) pay wages or labour costs of contractors, casuals or temporary staff who are engaged for clean-up and reinstatement activities

k) pay the costs of additional hours (overtime or extra hours/days) worked by permanent employees to assist with clean-up and reinstatement activities

For full time employees - PAYG statement with YTD and salary details (for example standard hours per week). The payslip would also need to note any overtime worked which may be reimbursed under this expense.

For casual staff evidence of the number of average hours they were working prior to the event and evidence of hours over and above evidenced by PAYG slips.

l) Repairing buildings (except dwellings, unless they are used for staff accommodation).Valid tax invoice and proof of payment.
3

Address the assessment criteria

  • Applications will be assessed against the eligibility criteria.
  • RAA may take into account your credit position and the status of any existing loans to help verify your intention to re-establish or continue the primary production enterprise.
  • RAA reserves the right to request further information from you or from any business or individual you have engaged, to assist in assessing your application and to verify any information provided in your application. Failure to provide such information may result in RAA refusing your application.
  • RAA reserves the right to refuse an application where eligibility criteria are not met, or where you do not or cannot provide sufficient information for the RAA to determine if eligibility criteria have been met.
  • The RAA can put an application on hold where the applicant is under investigation or has been charged in relation to the fraudulent receipt of grants under this or other RAA programs.
  • Complete applications will be assessed in order of receipt. Incomplete applications will not enter the assessment queue until all required information is provided.
  • Applicants should note that past financial assistance under this program or any other program is not a reliable indicator of eligibility for future financial assistance under this program.
  • Applications submitted may be subject to audit by RAA or its agents in order to determine compliance with scheme guidelines.
  • Before applying for financial assistance under this program, you should seek advice from your legal, business or financial advisers about the tax implications of this financial assistance.
  • You will be expected to provide a range of supporting documentation, including the latest local council rate notice, latest available tax return and financial statement for your farm business and complete copies of personal tax returns for each member of the farm business.

Start the application

Applications for this grant have now closed.

After the application is submitted

Successful applications will be decided by: the NSW Rural Assistance Authority.

These guidelines are correct at the time of publishing.

RAA reserves the right to amend, alter or change these guidelines at any time, and it is your responsibility to ensure that they check the relevant website prior to application.

Without limiting any rights, the RAA (or another NSW agency) in its sole discretion may recover funds from the applicant, and determine that a debt is due, if evidence indicates that the applicant:

  • did not meet the eligibility criteria;
  • received an over-payment of the grant (whether of the up-front grant or of an additional grant payment); or
  • spent any part of the grant on costs which were not eligible items or activities.

Evaluation

The RAA is committed to providing excellent service that responds to your needs through well targeted programs. For that reason, the RAA evaluates its programs. This includes surveys at various points of your application, approval and completion. The RAA may also contact you to ask about your experience of the assistance you received. The RAA will always treat the responses you provide as confidential and use the information only for the purposes it was collected.

Successful recipients

We will publish successful recipients on nsw.gov.au as grants are awarded.

Please note: Individual recipient information will be removed to ensure statutory compliance with the provisions of the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act (PPIP) 1988.

In addition, the Minister for Agriculture and Western NSW has approved a policy exception to not publish non-individual recipient data. For non-competitive programs that have a high-volume of low-value grants, which are predominantly awarded to individuals, it is not practical or feasible to separate applicant information and doing so would adversely affect the achievement of government policy outcomes.

Support and contact

If you need assistance with submitting your application, please contact us per below.

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