www.raa.nsw.gov.au
The Special Disaster Grants - Severe Weather & Flooding provides eligible primary producers up to
$75,000 and is designed to help pay for the costs of clean-up and reinstatement of primary production enterprises that have suffered direct damage as a result of the eligible disaster.
The easiest way to receive your grant is to apply via the Rural Assistance Authority's (RAA) online application form.
Primary producers who have been directly impacted by the NSW Severe Weather & Flooding from 27 June 2022 onwards, located in a declared Local Government Area (LGA) can apply for up to $75,000.
To be eligible for the grant, you must:
Up to $75,000 can be claimed per affected property that is operated by eligible separate businesses, to help with the costs associated with immediate clean- up and repairs to infrastructure. This is a grant and not a loan, meaning you don’t need to repay the funds.
Applicants who operate their primary production enterprise under a single ABN on separate properties may apply for multiple grants if they can satisfy the below criteria:
a) the staffing arrangements of the separate primary production enterprises
b) whether the primary production enterprises have their own plant, equipment or stock
c) the accounting arrangements of the separate primary production enterprises
d) whether the separate primary production enterprises operate under their own trading names
e) the commercial scale, viability and autonomy of each primary production enterprise.
Where two or more independent and separately owned and registered primary producers operate from the same property, each primary producer may receive a maximum grant to the maximum available - refer to the program guidelines for more information.
Application close dates vary depending on your LGA - please refer to the RAA website for close dates for applications and claims.
Yes, application forms can be completed online before costs are claimed and an up-front grant of $25,000 will be paid once your claim is approved.
Applicants must provide a complete application form and:
If you have been approved for assistance and provided the above documents to us in the past 12 months, you may not need to provide them again.
View the list of eligibility criteria in the program guidelines.
You can provide permission for the RAA to contact your accountant directly to obtain them.
LLS can send you a copy of your LLS rates notice. Please contact LLS on 1300 795 299 to request a copy.
You should enter the details of the properties where the majority of damage was incurred. If you require further information, please contact the RAA directly on 1800 678 593.
No. The GST component of any invoice received can be claimed on completion of your Business Activity Statement (BAS). The RAA will not issue a Recipient Created Tax Invoice (RCTI) on payment of the rebate, and you should retain the Payment Advice that is forwarded as a record for taxation purposes.
If you have previously submitted tax returns to the RAA for the financial year 2019/2020 (FY2019/20) or more recently, you will not need to provide further information.
To make it easier for you to apply, the RAA has access to third party damage assessment information, for example high-resolution imagery, to confirm the extent of the impacts in declared flood-affected local government areas in NSW.
However, it is important that you provide reasonable evidence of severe weather/flood damage with your application so we can fully assess your situation.
Some examples include:
A total of $75,000 is available for primary producers. Funds of up to $25,000 will be provided to eligible, approved applicants, without the need to provide evidence of payment at the point of application. Such funds can be provided on the basis of quotes or estimates.
If you have applied for more than $25,000 you will be required to provide proof of payment for both the first $25,000, as well as any amount that you want to be reimbursed for over
$25,000 up to the maximum of $75,000. Proof of payment can come in the form of bank statements, receipts, zero balance invoices.
You can elect to provide proof of payment such as invoices for the full $75,000 or you can choose to do this in stages as you incur the cost.
We recommend you wait for the outcome of your application before submitting invoices. Once your application has been assessed an assessment officer will send you information to assist with the claims process.
The RAA will look at your situation. Some businesses will take a shorter period of time to achieve full production (eg beef cattle) while others will take longer (eg. orchards). We will review your financial statements and look for a trend toward the timeline to full production that fits for your industry. The RAA may request additional information to support your application eg. Cash Flow Forecast
The Special Disaster Grant – Severe Weather & Flooding is designed to help primary producers pay for immediate clean-up and repairs to infrastructure and replacing livestock (including oyster spat). Eligible activities are outlined in the program guidelines, please check the guidelines prior to applying.
Note Future resilience – focusses on replacement of infrastructure including fencing and roads where the intention of the replacement is to improve resilience to future natural disaster events through the use of more durable materials or design. The intention is to encourage responsible infrastructure replacement rather than business expansion.
Funding cannot be used for activities already covered by insurance or other government funding programs.
Yes, you can use the grant to cover the repair or replacement costs of agricultural equipment.
No, the grant cannot be used to reimburse the loss of income.
You can claim for third parties including independent contractors to help with clean up and repair. When it comes to paying staff, the time of owners or shareholders in the business cannot be claimed. You can, however, claim the hours of employees who have no ownership role in the business, where you can show that those hours are above standard day to day wages and can be explained on the basis of cleaning up and repairs in relation to the natural disaster event.
Yes – you can claim for pasture recovery. To assess claims for pasture recovery we need evidence of how much of the paddock has been damaged and an understanding of what the land was being used for prior to the flood and the future intentions. Please provide any supporting information or documents, which could include, previous invoices for expenses, invoices for input costs and/or photos.
Yes – you can claim for salvaging crops and restoring fields. To assess these claims we need evidence of how much of the crop/fields has been damaged and an understanding of what the land was being used for prior to the flood and the future intentions. Please provide any supporting information or documents which could include, previous invoices for expenses, invoices for input costs and/or photos.
Yes - you can use your own machinery however, under the grant guidelines the RAA will only pay for the diesel/fuel cost associated with the use of this that this piece of machinery uses. You will be required to complete a detailed logbook showing hours worked, details of improvements, machinery used, etc. and the paid diesel/fuel invoice showing the litres purchased.
Yes - replacement of damaged crops is eligible however, evidence is required to demonstrate the extent of the damages being claimed. Please provide any supporting information or documents which could include, previous invoices for expenses, invoices for input costs and/or photos. Please note if only a portion of the crop has been damaged, the RAA will need to assess the full scope of damages to ascertain those replacement costs that are eligible.
Damages covered by insurance are not eligible to be claimed under this program. You are only able to claim for portions of costs not covered by insurance.
RAA recognises that you may have been impacted by a number of declared disaster events over the past 12 months and that allocating a claim (ie an invoice) to any one of these events will be difficult. We ask that you use your best endeavours to ensure proper record keeping. RAA will work with you to allocate a claim (ie an invoice) to the relevant event but acknowledges that in some instances this may not be possible. In these circumstances, RAA will use our discretion to allocate the invoice to the most relevant event based on the information provided.
You have 12 months from the date of declaration to submit a claim.
We recommend you wait for the outcome of your application before submitting invoices. Once your application has been assessed an assessment officer will send you information to assist with the claims process.
You must submit your claims through the online claims form. You will need to have your tax invoices along with proof of payment. The RAA will send information via email with a link to the claim form once your grant is approved. The claim form will ask you for some of the details found on your invoices and will then ask you to upload a copy of the invoice and proof of payment.
Our commitment to you is to assess your application efficiently and effectively to help bring your primary production enterprise back to normal operations as quickly as possible.
How does the RAA protect itself against fraud?
The RAA has a strong commitment to fraud prevention, detection, and response. Making a fraudulent application, including providing false or misleading information is a criminal offence which carries a maximum penalty of 2 years imprisonment, or a fine of $22,000, or both.
The RAA will also attempt to recover any assistance received as a result of fraud. More information can be found on our Fraud and Corruption webpage.
Rural Financial Counselling Service
If you are experiencing any issues completing the application form, free confidential assistance is available from your local Rural Financial Counselling Service.
Southern Region: 1800 319 458
Northern Region: 1800 344 090
Translations
If you need assistance with interpreting or translating, please contact Multicultural NSW on 1300 651 500 or email languageservices@multicultural.nsw.gov.au.
Rural Assistance Authority (RAA)
If you have any further questions about the Special Disaster Grants - Severe Weather & Flooding please contact the RAA on 1800 678 593 or at rural.assis@raa.nsw.gov.au.