{"id":721237,"date":"2026-06-07T15:14:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T15:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/721237\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T15:14:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T15:14:23","slug":"queensland-worse-off-under-proposed-disaster-recovery-funding-changes-councils-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/721237\/","title":{"rendered":"Queensland worse off under proposed disaster recovery funding changes, councils say"},"content":{"rendered":"

Queensland’s minister for disaster recovery says the state’s bridges will be left “half repaired” and its roads will “remain in ruins” under changes to the federal government’s disaster funding.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Under the new Disaster Recovery Framework, funding to communities impacted by natural disasters will be split 50\/50 between state, territory and federal governments.<\/p>\n

Previously the split was 64\/36 with the Commonwealth tipping in the bigger share.<\/p>\n

\"Damaged<\/p>\n

Damaged boats at Port Hinchinbrook harbour in the wake of Cyclone Yasi in 2011. (AAP: Dave Hunt)<\/p>\n

In the 2024-25 financial year the Queensland government received just under $1.3 billion in Commonwealth disaster recovery funding through the framework.<\/p>\n

An independent review of Commonwealth disaster funding<\/a> shows Queensland will face the biggest impact from the changes, as it receives the highest proportion of Commonwealth reimbursement.<\/p>\n

Queensland’s Minister for Disaster Recovery Ann Leahy said the federal government was “risking recovery as we know it in the most decentralised and disaster-prone state”.<\/p>\n

“Their actions will result in situations where bridges get half repaired and roads remain in ruins, at a time when local councils won’t have the capacity to meet the shortfall,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Prime<\/p>\n

The Albanese government has proposed a 50:50 funding split between state and federal governments as part of the Disaster Funding Recovery Framework. (ABC News: Adam Kennedy)<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the changes were about “fast-tracking funding” and removing red tape and bureaucracy.<\/p>\n

“Before my government was elected, there wasn’t a national emergency management agency in place,” he said.<\/p>\n

“These changes will ensure faster support through a simpler scheme that is in place. It should not be an ad hoc arrangement.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ann Leahy says the changes will leave Queenslanders worse off. (ABC News: Grace Whiteside)<\/p>\n

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli told Channel Seven’s Sunrise program he would fight the changes “tooth and nail.”<\/p>\n

“In the end the pie’s only so big, and you’re effectively saying to local communities in their hour of need: ‘you have you pick which road you’re going to repair, you’re going to have to pick which gutter gets done,'” he said.<\/p>\n

“That’s an insane scenario.”<\/p>\n

‘Changes will hurt Queensland’<\/p>\n

Local Government Assocation of Queensland chief executive Alison Smith said in a statement the changes were a “real sucker punch”.<\/p>\n

“After the 2026 summer season where 71 of 77 LGAs [local government areas] were disaster impacted, [we had] two cyclones and monsoonal flooding which lasted for five months across much of the state,” she said.<\/p>\n

“These disaster recovery changes will hurt Queensland communities and rob them of their ability to recover quickly.”<\/p>\n

\"wayne\"<\/p>\n

Queensland secured more than $1.2b in federal disaster recovery funding in the 2024-25 financial year. (ABC News: Brendan Esposito)<\/p>\n

Federal Minister for Climate Change Chris Bowen said the changes were a “fair arrangement”.<\/p>\n

“Every state and territory is exposed to impacts of climate change, not just Queensland,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We’ll work consistently across the board with every state and territory. Every community is subject to increasing natural disasters.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queensland’s minister for disaster recovery says the state’s bridges will be left “half repaired” and its roads will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":721238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[8932,278249,64,63,16489,349545,75,48408,141973,94,701,128],"class_list":["post-721237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-albanese","tag-ann-leahy","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-commonwealth","tag-disaster-funding-recovery-framework","tag-environment","tag-federal-funding","tag-kristy-mcbain","tag-qld","tag-queensland","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=721237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/721238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=721237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=721237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=721237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}