Case study: Enabling more communities to apply for resilience project funding
19 December 2025
The Disaster Ready Fund (DRF) is the Australian Government’s flagship disaster risk reduction initiative, investing up to $1 billion over five years from 1 July 2023. For Rounds 1 and 2 of the DRF, a mandatory co-contribution of 50 per cent was required for each project application, which left many agencies and organisations unable to apply.
This was particularly problematic for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, low rate-based councils, not-for-profits and other smaller organisations that perform vital functions in their communities.
In Queensland, QRA is responsible for coordinating DRF proposals and submitting applications to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on behalf of the state. For Round 3, QRA, in consultation with other States and Territories, successfully advocated to NEMA to amend the DRF guidelines[1], leading to a tiered structure of co-contributions:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and local councils located in very remote and remote locations – minimum co-contribution requirement of 10 per cent of eligible project costs (up to 90 per cent funded)
- other low rate-based councils and not-for-profit organisations – minimum co-contribution requirement of 20 per cent of eligible project costs (up to 80 per cent funded)
- all other applications – mandatory 50 per cent co-contribution.
After this change, more eligible groups and agencies could apply and have a greater chance at receiving funding for vital projects to help their communities.
Last updated: 19 December 2025
QRA Reference: QRATF/25/8716
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Information sources:
[1] National Emergency Management Agency