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 had the opportunity to voluntarily register their project concept with the RA and indicate the type of support they require. This was not mandatory and therefore not a pre-requisite for submitting an application when Round 3 commences.  

Please note that the Project Concept Registration of Interest form closed on 16 December 2024 and the Applicant Support Survey closed on 4 December 2024.  

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

• gauge stakeholder interest in applying for Round 3 of the DRF program
• 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 registration of interest process was not a selection process and will not to be used to select applications for inclusion in Round 3.  

The Project Concept Registration of Interest form was open from 6 November 2024 and closed on 16 December 2024.

The RA was gathering information to improve the support available to applicants throughout the Round 3 application process. The purpose of the Applicant Support survey was 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 preferences for Round 3, potential applicants were asked to complete an Applicant Support Survey, which was open from 6 November 2024 and closed on 4 December 2024.

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.

In addition to the Australian Government assessment criteria, the following NSW priorities and considerations will be used to determine suitable projects to be included as part of the NSW Application. We strongly encourage you to align your Round 3 project concepts to these priorities.

Priority 1: Leveraging Collaborations and Partnerships

How effectively the project demonstrates a collaborative governance or a partnership model. This includes:

• partnerships between relevant agencies, local leadership, community organisations, and members
• effective stakeholder consultation and engagement with the appropriate regional emergency management authority and/or Local Emergency Management Committee (LEMC) and/or local Aboriginal communities/leaders.  

Priority 2: Addressing Local and Regional Priorities

How strongly the project will contribute to addressing local and regional priorities and demonstrate that the risk treatment is both relevant and a priority for the community/region(s). This includes:  

• projects that support high-risk vulnerable populations that may otherwise lack the resources to respond
• place-based strategic assessments that leverage local knowledge to deliver effective solutions for community  
• strengthening the foundations for high-risk regions of NSW to ‘get ready’ to increase preparedness and resilience
• projects that expand on existing social assets and services in the region
• projects that enable the scaling and replication of existing program methodologies that have proven successful in other place-based contexts.

Priority 3: Demonstrating Project Readiness  

How strongly an applicant can demonstrate readiness to commence the project. This includes:

• extent of co-funding secured  
• evidence of planning and preparatory works for the project have been completed or are near completion
• where applicable, that the project stage to be delivered is critical to realise the benefits of previous or future project stages
• where applicable, evidence of status of the required regulatory and/or development approvals.

Alignment to other plans

When developing your application, the RA is particularly interested in projects that can demonstrate alignment to the following: the State Disaster Mitigation Plan (SDMP) including the focus on Get Ready NSW, and/or the Disaster Adaptation Plan (DAP) Guidelines and/or local natural disaster risk management plans, and/or community resilience strategies.  

In addition, and where appropriate, we welcome projects responding to the recommendations from the NSW Flood and/or Bushfire Inquiries and that incorporate local knowledge to meet the specific needs of the affected communities.     

The SDMP risk assessment findings are published on the RA website, and you can reference this data in your application so that it may be considered by both the state screening panel and the Australian Government assessment panel.

Yes - the NSW Panel will assess all DRF applications based on the Round 3 Australian Government Guidelines and NSW state priorities. The Australian Government is the final decision maker.    

Following the DRF Round 2 process, the RA has collated a range of feedback on what was considered a strong application.  

This includes, but not limited to:

Against Criteria 1: Project Alignment with disaster risk

• clear description of the problem/risk, project activities, expected outcomes, and overall impact
• an overview of the current level(s) of exposure and vulnerability to natural hazards, with a detailed comparison of the expected reduction in these levels if the project is delivered
• applications should also include quality evidence to support claims regarding the anticipated benefits and the reduction of exposure and vulnerability to natural hazards resulting from the project
• clear explanation of how the project will impact target locations and communities.  
• a description of how the project will offer lasting benefits beyond the DRF program duration.  

Against Criteria Two: Alignment with existing plans or development of plans:  

• alignment with the DRF objectives and investment principles, and the Second National Action Plan – clearly outlining how the project will achieve each of the program objectives and principles through targeted and risk informed approaches  
• detailed references to relevant risk reduction policies or risk assessments at the Local Government, State, or Commonwealth level, demonstrating how the project aligns with these efforts.  ​  

Against Criteria Three: Likelihood of project success:  

• demonstrated experience in managing and delivering similar projects​  
• low risks to delivery, with clear mitigations to address any potential challenges
• a detailed project plan, stakeholder engagement and consultation, and a budget proportionate to the project being delivered
• a realistic timeline with SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) milestones for successful delivery within the 3-year program timeframe.   

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.