Victorian rural councils to share in $10m disaster repair program

The governments will provide nearly $10 million, under the Council Priority Betterment Program, to rebuild roads, bridges and footpaths, damaged as a result of the 2022 floods.

Councils eligible to apply under the program are Buloke, Campaspe, Central Goldfields, Gannawarra, Loddon, Moira, Murrindindi, Benalla, Bendigo, Hepburn, Mildura, Pyrenees, Shepparton and Strathbogie.

The $9.4 million program will see grants of between $343,000-$1 million to affected councils.

The impacted councils eligible to apply are: Buloke, Campaspe, Central Goldfields, Gannawarra, Loddon, Moira, Murrindindi, Benalla, Bendigo, Hepburn, Mildura, Pyrenees, Shepparton and Strathbogie.

RCV said seven councils (Buloke, Campaspe, Central Goldfields, Gannawarra, Loddon, Moira, and Murrindindi) would be eligible to apply for up to $1 million each, while another seven

impacted councils (Benalla, Bendigo, Hepburn, Mildura, Pyrenees, Greater Shepparton and Strathbogie) could seek funding of up to $343,000 each.

Cr Brown said it was not a big amount of money and there were councils who had missed out, most notably Mitchell shire.

"In the floods last, we worked out there were 31 rural councils that were impacted, in some way," Cr Brown said.

"It's a good start, but there needs to be long term investment in this."

Authorities were already talking about the potential for bushfires and floods were also likely again, in the future.

"There need to be opportunities for communities to be disaster-proofed," she said.

"The focus, in the past has been very much on recovery after these events, but essentially prevention is better than cure."

Funding also needed to be put into engineering solutions.

But she said there were also simple solutions, such as building bigger culverts and drains to reduce the amount of water that could "pool" and damage roads and other infrastructure.

She agreed costs had continued to spiral

Recent recent figures from Corangamite Shire showed the price of reconstructing each square metre of sealed local road rose 12.32 per cent from $44.61 in 2021-22 to $50.10 in 2022-23.

That was due to increases in cost of materials, plant and labour rates, equipment and fuel.

There was also a lack of local civil construction contractors available, with many busy undertaking private development works.

That resulted in available contractors submitting higher-than-average prices for works.

The program is jointly funded through the Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).

Cr Brown welcomed the fact that key assets that helped communities stay connected and reduced hardship during and after disasters, such as culverts and roads, would be prioritised.

"Those assets were a key priority in RCV advocacy to state and federal governments," Cr Brown said.

"We see the program announcement as an important first step in building back damaged or

destroyed assets to a more resilient standard.

"Betterment should be part of all disaster recovery packages into the future.

"We note that applicants are required to provide a minimum co-contribution of 5 per cent to the project and that a co-contribution is considered an 'in-kind or monetary contribution from the council," Cr Brown said.

"This is essential for small rural councils that have small rated bases and are struggling financially.

Federal Emergency Management Minister, Murray Watt said the upgrades would be significant in helping communities prepare for future emergencies.

"Betterment works mean infrastructure can be built back using more resilient methods or materials, so they're less likely to be impacted again by future natural disasters," he said.

"This is the first betterment program of its kind in Victoria, so I'm very pleased the government is co-funding it.

"In addition to reducing the risk of disruptions to communities from disasters, we know that betterment programs like this one, delivered in other states, have demonstrated savings and avoided costs for all levels of government."