Communities still recovering from the Black Summer bushfires will soon have a fresh opportunity to apply for funding under a new grants program from the Australian Government.

Federal Member for Hume Angus Taylor said the $280 million Black Summer Bushfire Recovery grants program would open in mid-2021 to community organisations, businesses and councils, covering Local Government Areas that were disaster-declared due to the 2019-20 bushfires.

“We know recovery is a long haul and needs to match the pace of communities – so this is a great chance to access funding for priorities in our local area,” Mr Taylor said.

“The new Black Summer Bushfire Recovery grants will be delivered directly by the Australian Government to help communities address priority recovery work that hasn’t yet been supported under other funding programs.

“While it will still be a month or two before grant guidelines are available, we’re getting the grants on people’s radar early so communities can start thinking about local needs and ideas.”

Mr Taylor said the grant criteria and process would be as simple and flexible as possible. While details are still to come, the new grants program is expected to fund a broad range of projects – from community wellbeing projects right through the projects that support the recovery of natural and built environments.

Guidelines and funding criteria will be available in mid-2021, with grant rounds expected to open shortly after that and funding to be delivered to successful applicants from December 2021.

Potential applicants can express their interest in receiving further information, once it is available, via the online Black Summer grants contact form at www.bushfirerecovery.gov.au/grants-program.