Disaster Ready Fund - Round 3 FAQs

On 7 September 2022, the Australian Government announced their flagship disaster resilience and risk reduction initiative, committing $1 billion to be made available nationally through the DRF over five years, from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2028.

The DRF provides investment in disaster mitigation across infrastructure and systemic disaster risk reduction projects, to address any, or multiple, natural hazards including extreme weather events and geological hazards.

Only Australian state and territory governments are eligible to apply to the DRF and the NSW Reconstruction Authority (RA) is the jurisdictional lead agency and ‘applicant’ on behalf of NSW.

On 28 August 2024, the Australian Government announced the NSW projects funded under the Disaster Ready Fund Round 2. 
 

The DRF supports projects that:

• increase the understanding of natural hazard impacts, as a first step towards reducing disaster impacts in the future
• 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
• 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 DRF Round 3 is expected to open for applications in early 2025, which is in line with the timeframes established by the Australian Government. 

The Australian Government is expected to release the Round 3 guidelines in late 2024 to early 2025. 
 

There is no mandatory EOI process for Round 3, however, applicants have the opportunity to voluntarily register their project concept with the RA and indicate the type of support they require for Round 3, however this is not mandatory and therefore not a pre-requisite for submitting an application when Round 3 commences.

• To register the type of support required for Round 3, please complete the Applicant Support survey, which closes on Wednesday 4 December 2024. 
• To register your project concept with RA, please complete the Project Concept Registration of Interest form, which closes on Monday, 16 December 2024. 
   

The purpose of the Project Concept Registration of Interest form is to:

• Gauge stakeholder interest in applying for Round 3 of the DRF program.
• To provide high-level feedback on project concepts and guidance on what NSW considers a highly suitable application (based on criteria from previous rounds and NSW priorities). 

Project Concept Registration of Interest responses will not impact any future application to the DRF. The RA will review your response  and may be in contact with you to further discuss the Program and your project. The registration of interest process is not a selection process and is not intended to be used to select applications for inclusion in the Round 3 application.

Should the RA not provide formal feedback on your registration of interest  , this will not preclude you from submitting an application.  Any discussions and information shared following the registration of interest will not form part of the assessment in any future process.  

To register your interest, please complete the Project Concept Registration of Interest form. 

The RA is gathering information to improve the support available to applicants throughout the Round 3 application process. The purpose of the Applicant Support survey is to:

• Determine specific support and guidance needs to assist applicants throughout the application process.
• Tailor support and resources to effectively meet the needs of potential applicants.

To indicate the support you require, please complete the Applicant Support Survey.

Details on how to submit a project under Round 3 will be shared closer to when the Australian Government plans to open applications in early 2025.

No, only Australian state and territory government lead agencies are eligible to apply for funding via an overarching state Application to the Australian Government comprising of all project proposals. 

The RA is the jurisdictional lead agency in NSW. The RA will conduct a Registration of Interest to gauge market interest, followed by a Final Proposal process to identify suitable projects for inclusion in the NSW Application to be submitted to the Australian Government. The Australian Government is the final decision maker on assessment of projects and awarding of funding.

Further details regarding eligibility requirements for Round 3 will be provided following the release of the Round 3 Guidelines by the Australian Government, which is anticipated to occur in late 2024 or early 2025. In the meantime, please refer to Section 3 of the Round 2 Australian Government DRF guidelines for guidance (PDF 1.08MB) on previous requirements.

Further details regarding the NSW priorities and considerations will be provided closer to the application stage.

Further information on co-contribution requirements will be made available once the Round 3 Guidelines are released by the Australian Government in late 2024 or early 2025. In the interim, please refer to Section 5 of the Round 2 Australian Government DRF guidelines (PDF 1.08MB) for guidance on previous requirements.

Further information on the Australian Government co-contribution waivers will be made available on once the Round 3 Guidelines are released by the Australian Government in late 2024 or early 2025. In the interim, please refer to Section 5.3 of the Round 2 Australian Government DRF guidelines (PDF 1.08MB) for guidance on previous requirements.

The RA has appointed an external probity advisor for the NSW application process. Should you have any concerns regarding the probity or integrity of the NSW application please email the RA in the first instance at: drfnsw@reconstruction.nsw.gov.au.