Disaster Ready Fund

The Disaster Ready Fund: Round One, 2023-2024 is now closed for proposals in Victoria. Applications closed at 4 pm Thursday 16 February 2023.

About the Disaster Ready Fund

The Disaster Ready Fund is a new Australian Government disaster risk reduction initiative which will fund a diverse set of large scale and long-term resilience projects in partnership with states and territories.

The Disaster Ready Fund commits up to $200 million per year nationally for disaster risk mitigation projects, to improve Australia’s natural disaster resilience and risk reduction capabilities. The Australian Government has announced that up to $1 billion will be committed through the Disaster Ready Fund over 5 years, from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2028.

The primary objectives of the DRF are to:   

  1. increase the understanding of natural hazard disaster impacts, as a first step towards reducing disaster impacts in the future
  2. increase the resilience, adaptive capacity and/or preparedness of governments, community service organisations and affected communities to minimise the potential impact of natural hazards and avert disasters, and
  3. reduce the exposure to risk, harm and/or severity of a natural hazard’s impacts, including reducing the recovery burden for governments and vulnerable and/or affected communities.

The Australian Government has advised that only Australian state and territory governments are eligible to apply for funding in Round One, 2023-24. EMV is coordinating project proposals for inclusion in a single over-arching Victorian application.

Who can apply for funding

The following organisations from Victoria may propose individual projects for the Victorian application:

  • state government departments and agencies
  • floodplain management authorities
  • municipal councils
  • volunteer emergency service organisations
  • peak bodies and incorporated associations/organisations with an emergency management purpose, connection or interest
  • research institutions
  • private and non-government organisations, including small business and associated business groups.

Current funding opportunity

The Australian Government has announced that there is no minimum or maximum amounts of Australian Government funding per project, within the total allocated for 2023-24 of up to $200 million.

All projects must be finalised within 3 years of execution of the funding agreement unless special consideration is granted for longer projects.

Application process

Interested organisations should review:

Project owners must contribute at least 50 per cent of eligible project expenditure towards each project. Financial delegates must endorse the funding commitments outlined in project proposals at time of submission.

How to apply

The Victorian application window for Round One has now closed.

More information

If you have any queries regarding the Disaster Ready Fund we encourage you to read our Frequently Asked Questions page or contact our team at drf@emv.vic.gov.au (External link)