Kiwis will get flood cash help
NZ citizens living in storm-devastated parts of the Gold Coast will be able to access government-funded disaster relief.
More than 22,000 Kiwis have made the Gold Coast home with more to come after new citizenship laws earlier last year.
The federal government announced applications for two more disaster relief payments opening from 2pm on Monday for residents in eligible suburbs covering Kiwis on certain visas.
This includes the Australian Goverment Disaster Recovery Payment (AGDRP), a one-off $1000 per eligible adult and $400 per eligible dependant child.
Senator Murray Watt said: “That’s really intended to help those who’ve suffered some sort of significant damage to their homes or if they’ve suffered a serious injury as a result of storms.”
After damage assessments of storm-damaged areas, the AGDRP is for residents in 27 south-east Queensland suburbs: Arundel, Biggera Waters, Coombabah, Coomera, Gaven, Guanaba Helensvale Holly Well, Labrador, Maudsland, Mudgeeraba, Nerang, Oxenford, Pacific Pines, Paradise Point, Runaway Bay, Talai, Upper Coomera and Wongwallan and more. Jimboomba and Mount Tamborine are also named plus Logan and Scenic Rim suburbs.Senator Watt said as councils conduct further assessments, more suburbs will likely be added.
A second relief payment, Australian Government Disaster Recovery Allowance, is for those unable to access their work due to storm damage. Income support at Job Seeker level is for up to 13 weeks for eligible applicants.
Premier Steven Miles said in the last 24 hours, government had paid $10.5 million for 59,476 disaster relief grants for southeast Queensland out of 95,859 applications. About 10 properties have been destroyed, 152 severely damaged and 406 moderately damaged with affected homeowners expected to wait “years” for repairs. “We do know from our recent experiences of the Brisbane floods it will take years to get everybody’s home repaired. The construction market continues to be challenging in terms of labour and other supplies.”