Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements

Apply before: March 31, 2023

Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements and relief measures are available to assist in meeting the needs of primary producers whose assets or primary production business has/have been affected by a disaster for which the DRFA has been invoked. Assistance is not provided as compensation for damage/losses sustained, or as a disincentive to self-help by way of commercial insurance and/or other appropriate strategies of disaster mitigation. Support is offered on an as needs basis.

The DRFAWA is administered by the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES). The primary producer assistance measures are administered by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) on behalf of DFES.

For most disaster events, assistance measures include reimbursement grants for:

Professional advice
Freight subsidy
Fencing (for livestock producers only)
Expression of Interest for interest subsidy on a new loan to recover.

Eligibility

An applicant is the business entity, represented by the partners, directors, shareholders, etc who are the primary producers and would all need to meet the eligibility criteria as detailed below.

To be eligible for Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, applicants must:

operate a commercial scale farming, fishing, horticultural or pastoral business and be affected by the declared natural disaster;
be registered with the Australian Taxation Office as a primary producer, hold an Australian Business Number, been operational for at least one year and have been in existence in the specified area prior to and including the date of the event;
either own the farm land or hold a current minimum five (5) year written agreement to sharefarm or lease the property for the purpose of primary production. The applicant must provide a copy of the lease/sharefarming agreement with their application; OR own and operate under a fishing licence or have a three (3) year lease of a fishing licence
devote at least 75% of their labour to the affected primary production enterprise;
confirm the business usually generates at least 50% of its total income from the affected enterprise;
lodge their claim within six (6) months of the declaration date of the disaster (any variance in the lodgement period will be advertised on the OEM and DPIRD websites);
demonstrate that own resources are not available to the business to recover from the disaster;
confirm that the items claimed are not covered by insurance or industry compensation fund;
demonstrate that the primary production business was severely affected by the declared natural disaster.
Category C applications have an additional requirement to declare that they intend to re-establish the affected business.

With regard to requests for fencing assistance, applicants will also have to demonstrate that at the time of the natural disaster the land was used to hold or agist livestock and is on the main road.

Benefits

The Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements WA provides an interest rate subsidy with payments:

capped at a maximum of $6,000 per annum (being 4% of a loan maximum of $150,000); and
capped at a maximum of $6,000 per annum (being 4% of a loan maximum of $150,000); and