Building Back Better

Following a disaster, ‘infrastructure betterment’ is the restoration or replacement of damaged assets (roads, bridges, libraries, community centres, sportsgrounds) to a more disaster resilient standard than the pre-disaster standard.

It is a cost-effective opportunity to reduce the risk posed by future disasters and helps reduce recovery costs on governments longer-term.

However, infrastructure betterment funding remains available only through Category D (“relief or recovery carried out to alleviate distress or damage in circumstances which are, in the opinion of the Commonwealth, exceptional”) of the national Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA). It is not possible, for example, for local governments to access betterment funding through a Community Recovery Fund activated under Category C of the DRFA to support “severely affected” communities.

As natural disasters become more frequent and intense, every tier of government has a responsibility to ensure that public monies are committed wisely during the recovery phase and with a long-term view, to best support communities and build resilience to future disasters.

ASK: Infrastructure betterment provisions be included within Category B and Category C of the DRFA, in acknowledgment that building resilience to natural disasters is not an exceptional circumstance nor a burden to be borne by local government alone.