TWO of Queensland's regional councils have been granted $1 million each to help finance some bushfire recovery projects.
The Southern Downs Regional Council (SDRC) and Livingstone Shire Council in Central Queensland can start rebuilding infrastructure with the funding which has been made available under the National Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements.
The Federal MP for Maranoa David Littleproud said the support for the SDRC would also help strengthen community resilience.
"To be battling through drought and then get kicked in the guts again with bushfires shows how tough and determined the people on the Southern Downs are," Mr Littleproud said.
"This $1 million payment is just the start of our rebuild.
"SDRC will decide what infrastructure is important to people across the region and it will be built back better.
"I've made it clear this won't be a Canberra led recovery, it'll be a locally-led recovery and this is our first instalment in that process.
"We're committed to rebuilding communities and the lives of those impacted by these devastating fires."
Livingstone Shire mayor Bill Ludwig welcomed the grant but admitted a lot more would be required.
"I don't want to sound less than gracious because we are delighted to receive this grant but the cost to repairing our community and rebuilding our economy will take much more," Councillor Ludwig said.
"We need to sit down and look where in our road network we could spend that money to improve accessibility.
"We also have to look at the impact on our economy and see how we can improve opportunities in that area because a lot of the agricultural sector was affected and the impact spread to the wider community.
"At this challenging time, impacted communities like Livingstone need as much financial support as we can possibly get to repair damage and importantly, rebuild from the devastation the fires have had on our community, our primary production sectors, our infrastructure and the regional economy."
The Member for Capricorn Michelle Landry said the funding was to address "immediate needs" in bushfire-ravaged communities.
"This is the first part of our whole of government plan to make sure that the councils that are in need after bushfire emergencies can get on with what they need to do," Ms Landry said.
Livingstone Shire and SDRC are among 40 councils, including five in Queensland, receiving Category C assistance.
Councils will be able to spend their $1 million on projects and activities they deem essential such as rebuilding damaged or destroyed assets including local roads, bridges, and community facilities and hosting new public activities and events to bring communities together and attract visitors back to affected regions as well as immediate maintenance and repairs to relief and evacuation centres.
Alan Welburn
Lover of sport, particularly horse racing and all things Olympic. Have spent my entire working life in journalism, mostly with News Corp on its major metro mastheads. Done plenty of things but the best by far is having a teenage son who calls me dad.
Lover of sport, particularly horse racing and all things Olympic. Have spent my entire working life in journalism, mostly with News Corp on its major metro mastheads. Done plenty of things but the best by far is having a teenage son who calls me dad.
