North dudded by Canberra’s “disaster of a deal”

Townsville City Council is leading calls for Canberra to abandon a “disaster of a deal” that could see an open-ended tax slapped on North Queenslanders.

Townsville Mayor Nick Dametto today delivered Council’s appeal to the Federal Government to abandon its proposed changes to national Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA), with Council lodging a submission to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

“If this deal goes through there is a serious risk of Councils being forced to introduce an annual disaster levy, or simply abandon infrastructure repairs,” Cr Dametto said.

“Townsville residents should not be forced to pay more because Canberra wants to balance its books and has decided to walk away from its fair share of disaster recovery responsibility.

“We’re resilient when it comes to severe weather events, but this deal struck in the south is a disaster like we’ve never seen for the North, and one that completely ignores the reality faced by communities like ours.

“Townsville City Council is calling on NEMA to redesign this framework to ensure North Queenslanders aren't left worse off, protect recovery capability, recognise Local Government's role, and deliver risk-based support where it's needed most.”

Since 2019, Townsville has been the recipient of almost $19 million in Commonwealth-backed resilience and recovery projects, delivering critical upgrades to roads, essential services and disaster resilience infrastructure.

Under the proposed changes, the Commonwealth would move to a 50:50 funding split with state governments for disaster recovery, significantly reducing the level of federal support traditionally available through the DRFA (from 75:25). Another proposal is a cancellation of the DRFA Efficiencies Program and Category D Betterment funding for exceptional disaster circumstances.

Projects supported through these programs have included upgrades to rural and remote road networks, resilience improvements to major infrastructure and investment in backup power systems for water and sewerage services during emergencies.

Cr Dametto said if the proposed arrangement was in place now, the Magnetic Island community would not have celebrated the Sooning Street Bridge being re-open to traffic last weekend.

“Under the proposed arrangement there would have been a $3.5 million funding gap to deliver the Sooning Street Bridge reconstruction, that equates to the 6-metre hole in the bridge.

“For councils, finding an extra $3.5 million after a disaster isn't as simple as pulling out a cheque book. It means difficult decisions like cancelling or delaying projects, services or events, and the very real threat of slower recovery for people already doing it tough.”

Deloitte modelling has in recent years predicted Queensland will shoulder 40 per cent of the nation’s natural disaster costs ($530 billion) between 2020-2060.

Despite its smaller population, North Queensland remains disproportionately at risk of shouldering a significant portion of these costs given its geographic exposure to the highest-severity hazards, namely cyclones, monsoonal floods and storm surges.

Federal Member for Herbert and Shadow Minister for Defence Industry and Defence Personnel Phillip Thompson OAM MP said North Queensland communities know all too well the devastating impact of natural disasters.

“Our councils are on the frontline when cyclones, floods and severe weather strike, and they should not be left carrying a greater financial burden because of changes made by this Federal Labor Government,” he said.

“Every dollar diverted to cover funding shortfalls is a dollar that cannot be spent on local roads, community facilities and essential services and adds costs to local families who are already battling to cover everyday living costs.”