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The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has distributed a further $2 million in funding through its CanGive Flood Appeal.
In March of this year, CBA set up the CanGive Flood Appeal to raise funds for those impacted by the floods throughout northern NSW and Queensland.
The bank had initially stated that it would dollar match up to $500,000 of the donations made by members of the public and employees through its CanGive Flood Appeal, which was later doubled to $1 million.
The bank has now announced that it has raised $2.8 million to support customers and communities to clean up, rebuild and recover.
Approximately $800,000 was distributed from the CanGive Flood Appeal to emergency responders such as Australian Red Cross, Queensland SES, NSW SES and Thread Together, to provide immediate assistance on the ground earlier this year.
The additional $2 million is now being distributed to help a number of flood-affected charities and communities as they transition out of crisis and into recovery.
“We are committed to supporting communities now and in the future as they move out of acute crisis to commence the long and difficult process of recovery. With the scale and devastation of the floods still being understood, funding and support is going to be required for some time to help these local communities get back on their feet.
“Through the CommBank CanGive initiative, we have partnered with our customers to raise much-needed funds and drive further support for flood impacted communities. The funds delivered so far are helping with clean-up and will further aid ongoing rebuild and recovery.”
Federal grants available
The federal government has also recently extended funding support to an additional eight regions hard-hit.
Large parts of NSW were hit by heavy rains again last month, leading the federal and state governments to extend their Disaster Recovery Payment to include an additional eight local government areas (LGA).
The grants are available to impacted communities in the Illawarra, Western Sydney and Hawkesbury-Nepean and Hunter and Mid North Coast regions, which have suffered a significant loss as a result of the floods, including a severely damaged or destroyed home or a serious injury.
The assistance was extended to the local government areas of Bayside, Dungog, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Singleton and Upper Lachlan regions, as well as the LGAs of Cumberland, MidCoast, Muswellbrook, Nambucca, Newcastle, Port Stephens, Randwick and Warren.
The total number of disaster-declared LGAs for the weather event that started on 27 June 2022 is now 37.
NSW Minister for Emergency Services and Resilience, Steph Cooke, said the scale of this flood event requires significant recovery support and declaring a natural disaster is an “essential first step” towards getting a range of support out the door and in the pockets of individuals, families, farmers and business owners.
Eligible Australians will be able to apply for a one-off, non-means-tested payment of $1,000 per eligible adult or $400 per eligible child.
The grants have also been made available to assist employees and sole traders who experience a loss of income as a direct result of a major disaster and are payable for a maximum of 13 weeks.
Under the initiative, those eligible will receive the maximum equivalent rate of JobSeeker payments or Youth Allowance, “depending on personal circumstances”, but must be earning below the national average of $1,737.10 a week.
[Related: Government flood support expanded]
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