Bushfire Recovery Wingecarribee

BizRebuild are on the ground in bushfire affected regions providing immediate relief and acting on what communities tell us they need to rebuild.

Their assistance is rapid, targeted and designed to make a difference for the long term.

They have three main ways that they can assist affected communities:

1. Getting businesses back on their feet

We have a team of experts who can work with affected businesses to:

• provide help with finance, regulation, planning and marketing
• draw up business recovery plans
• tap into local legal and accounting services and provide vouchers up to the value of $500 to help cover costs in drawing up business recovery plans
• navigate the available government assistance and help cut through red tape
• help fill in forms
• help find jobs for displaced workers
• match them with donated equipment to meet their specific needs
• access mental health support services, and
• connect businesses with long-term mentors from the large business community.

We are also:

• encouraging larger businesses and the broader community to buy fresh produce, goods and services from fire affected small businesses,
• asking larger businesses to hold offsite meetings and conferences in bushfire affected areas,
• having larger businesses commit to paying their bills and invoices ahead of time to help small businesses with cashflow, and
• having larger businesses commit to waiving debts owed by small businesses.

2. Replacing tools and equipment

We can help by providing replacement tools, office equipment, laptops and other practical things lost in the fires that small businesses need to get back to work.

We can give vouchers worth up to $2,000 per small business to replace equipment.

3. Rebuilding community facilities

We are organising pop-up malls so businesses destroyed by fire can start trading again while their permanent premises are rebuilt. This supports the local drivers of tourism and other industries.

Repairing, rebuilding and constructing multi-purpose, world-class community facilities will ensure communities have access to thriving hubs of social and economic activity where they can come together, attract sporting, social and tourism events, and keep locals in town.

We will help local tourism related businesses and industries market and promote themselves to encourage tourists to return.

We will help local communities to encourage business, sporting and entertainment events to be held in their region.

We will assist local businesses and industries to find markets for their produce, encouraging larger businesses to source produce from bushfire areas.

For more information, please visit BizRebuild.

FOCUS connect bushfire financial assistance program, is available until the 30th of June 2020, to individuals residing in the Macarthur, Wollondilly and Wingecarribee regions.

The program is designed for people who have experienced any of the following as a result of the recent bushfire;

- Loss/damage of home

- Loss/damage of personal/household item

- Loss of income

- Loss of a family member/pet

- Displaced from your home

- Health related impacts

In order for us to determine your eligibility, we will conduct an over the phone assessment, this usually takes about 30 minutes. We will ask you to provide some details on how you/your household has been impacted. You will also need to provide certain types of information including: - Your personal details & contact information - Identification - Income (All information you provide is for assessment and record keeping purposes only and will remain confidential and handled in accordance with Focus Connects Privacy Policy) Focus Connect understands that you may be working with other local supports as you recover from the fires. We can engage collaboratively with you and these other service providers to make the process as smooth as possible.

For further information or to make an appointment, please contact Caitlin Manganaro

on 02 4627 1188 or via email on E. caitlinmanganaro@focusconnect.org.au

Community Links Wellbeing has been funded by Resilience NSW to provide a Recovery Support Service to support anyone who has been impacted by the 2019/2020 Bushfires. This includes people who lost property, but also those who were impacted in others ways.

The Recovery Support Service is a personalised service assisting people across Wollondilly and Wingecarribee who have been affected by the bush fires or other emergency events. They can provide you with information, decision-making and recovery resources.

Providing a flexible, customised service whether by phone, video call, or other online tools, locally based workers will support you via whatever technology you have available. The team will be working creatively to continue to stay connected with people in ways that protect their health and wellbeing. Where possible they can meet with you in person, following social distancing guidelines.

We can help you move toward.....

• Getting the right information
• Working out your next steps ... and how to get there
• Getting connected with the right services that can support your needs
• Coordinating the services and supports you may already have in place
• Feeling more hopeful about the path ahead

How it Works

The Recovery Support Service offers free support and information to individuals and households impacted by the bushfires across Wingecarribee and Wollondilly. The service is delivered by a team of local Bushfire Recovery Support Officers who are trained, local workers with skills in support work, case management or broader welfare work.

An individual or household needing support is assigned a Recovery Support Officer with the skills and expertise to assess their needs.

A Recovery Support Officer can:

• Provide relevant information about the range of assistance and services available
• Help you work out what needs to be done and develop an action plan
• Connect you with the services required and assist in coordinating these
• Assist with referral and application processes for services needed
• Facilitate meetings between you and relevant agencies
• Assist with practicalities, such as dealing with insurance companies or replacing key documents.

The Recovery Support Service is a flexible system, ranging from facilitating self-access to information, to providing intensive support for individuals and households who may be temporarily unable to independently access the services they need for recovery. The focus is on empowering the individual.

For further information, please contact 4683 2776 www.communitylinks.org.au or check find us on social media for regular updates.

Financial assistance is available for bushfire-affected people in financial hardship.

The cash grants available are:

• Emergency grant for people who have lost their homes.
• Injury grant for people who were hospitalised due to the fires.
• Primary residence repair grant for home owners whose homes have been structurally damaged. From 12 March 2020, eligibility has been extended to include destruction or damage to critical private water, septic and/or power infrastructure.
• Re-establishment grant to help people who lost their primary place of residence – house, caravan or mobile home, whether owned or rented – to have somewhere safe to live.

Applications for the emergency, injury and primary residence repair grants will be open until 30 June. Applications for the re-establishment grant will be open unti 31 August 2020.

And there will be more assistance available for those facing severe hardship.

Complete an online application form and learn more at www.redcross.org.au/get-help/emergencies/recovering-from-emergencies/grants#reestablishment.

The NSW Government has committed $209 million to help bushfire-affected landholders with the cost of rebuilding boundary fences adjoining public lands.

Private landholders who share a boundary with public land and were impacted by the Northern and Southern fires of late 2019 and early 2020 are eligible to receive up to $5,000 per kilometre to contribute to the replacement of damaged boundary fences.

Note that for the purposes of this grant, public lands includes:

• National parks
• Forestry Corporation land
• Traveling stock reserves
• Crown reserves, tenured roads and leases
• Roads managed by Roads and Maritime Services or Local Government.

Grants can be issued retrospectively to cover costs already incurred by landholders replacing fire damaged fencing where a boundary is shared with public lands.

How can you apply?

Please visit Local Land Services or call 1300 778 080 .

Member for Goulburn Wendy Tuckerman MP has welcomed the NSW Government's $140 Million Bushfire Industry Recovery Package to support forestry, horticulture and agriculture industries impacted by the recent bushfires.

"The Goulburn electorate has felt the full devastation of bushfires and drought in recent times and this package will help industries significantly impacted by fires to rebuild and recover," Mrs Tuckerman said.

"This funding will support the recovery and resilience of key industries by backing projects that retain and create jobs, strengthen local supply chains and support a return to production".

"The Goulburn electorate is dependent on these industries to generate jobs and economic activity and this funding will provide the direct help many businesses need to recover from devastating losses, which will in turn benefit the wider community".

"NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro said communities in the Goulburn electorate are the backbone of this state and it is critical to support the key regional industries, which keep our economy thriving".

"Our farmers feed this State and this Nation, and not only have they endured the worst drought on record, but many have suffered horrific bushfires and are now facing the impacts of COVID-19", Mr Barilaro said.

"Bushfire impacted towns cannot afford to suffer further job losses and economic downturn, which is why we are delivering this funding to keep regional industries in business".

"Industries with the greatest impact will be given the greatest share of this funding. The program will focus on recovery in the short term and will support valuable investments to help these sectors plan for recovery in the longer term".

Details of funding criteria, including amounts available for businesses under this package will be made available with the release of program guidelines in the coming weeks.

Other bushfire support measures include covering the cost of the clean-up of residential and small business properties, the NSW government's $1 billion fund to replace vital state infrastructure, $75,000 grants for bushfire affected primary producers and $50,000 grants for bushfire affected small businesses.

For a full list if all available bushfire support, go to www.service.nsw.gov.au.

The NSW Government has commissioned an independent expert inquiry into the 2019-20 bushfire season to provide input to NSW ahead of the next bushfire season.

Dave Owens APM, former Deputy Commissioner of NSW Police, and Professor Mary O’Kane AC, Independent Planning Commission Chair and former NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer, are leading the six-month inquiry, which is reviewing the causes of, preparation for and response to the 2019-20 bushfires.

The Inquiry welcomes submissions from bushfire-affected residents, emergency and support personnel, organisations and the general public. Learn more at www.nsw.gov.au/nsw-government/projects-and-initiatives/make-submission-to-bushfire-inquiry

Everyone is encouraged to share their experience and tell their story to inform the Inquiry’s work. To this end the NSW Bushfire Inquiry has been travelling to bushfire-affected communities to meet with and directly hear from people who have been affected by the 2019-20 bushfires.

As the COVID-19 situation prohibits the Inquiry from continuing to visit communities to hold face-to-face meetings, community consultation will now be undertaken via video conference (with an option to participate by phone) to ensure we can continue to hear stories directly from community members.

The Inquiry will hold a videoconference for the Wollondilly and Southern Highlands.

Meeting: Wollondilly and Southern Highlands Community Consultation

Location: Online

Date: Thursday 7 May 2020

Time: 5:00pm – 6:30pm

If you are interested in attending this meeting, please register online. Following registration, you will receive a confirmation email. Closer to the date, you will receive a link to access the video conference, including dial-in details if you would prefer to participate by phone.

The number of participants in each video conference will be capped to ensure everyone gets a chance to share their experience. If demand exceeds capacity, the Inquiry will consider holding additional sessions.

Provide your feedback by Friday 22 May 2020 using:

Online form: www.nsw.gov.au/nsw-government/projects-and-initiatives/make-submission-to-bushfire-inquiry

Email: inquiries@bushfireinquiry.nsw.gov.au

Post: NSW Independent Bushfire Inquiry, GPO Box 5341, Sydney NSW 2001

Phone: If you have limited computer or internet access you can make a submission over the phone by calling the Bushfire Customer Care program on 13 77 88

Bushfire Recovery Newsletters are being issued by Wingecarribee Shire Council via email and print. Check out the Document Library for the latest editions.

Further information will continue to be shared via email and noticeboards while we work out how best to deliver bushfire recovery support during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Financial Counselling Australia is excited to announce the launch of Australia’s first financial counselling service for small business.

The Small Business Bushfire Financial Counselling Support Line (1800 413 828) and website www.smallbusinessbushfire.org.au fills a much-needed gap: financial counselling for small businesses affected by the bushfires and experiencing financial difficulties.

In mid-January, the Federal Government announced funding of $3.5 million over two years to set up the new service.

“Small business owners commonly have their business and personal finances intermingled. They may have guaranteed a business loan with a personal asset such as their house, for example,” said Fiona Guthrie.

“And as soon as a crisis hits, not only is the business at risk, but so are their personal assets,” Ms Guthrie said. “And many small businesses impacted by the bushfires are now experiencing a double whammy as a result of Covid-19.”

“That’s why this financial counselling support line is so important. It is going to play a critical role in helping small business owners get through these really difficult times.”

The new service has come about as a direct response from the Federal Government to the devastating bushfires that swept large parts of Australia in recent months.

The financial counselling sector has long advocated for funding to establish a specialist telephone support line for small business owners. In the UK, Business Debtline has been running for a number of years.

Small business financial counsellors help sole traders and people who run small businesses in many ways. They provide advice on among other things:

• options for managing business debts as well as personal debts
• the implications for directors who have guaranteed a business loan or other service/supply
• how to dispute business debts in external dispute resolution schemes
• how to negotiate repayment arrangements on tax debts, leases, utility bills, with suppliers or any other business debt
• what government services and grants may be available to help small businesses.

They are also trained in negotiation and counselling and to offer emotional support.

Service NSW is working in collaboration with federal, state and local governments to bring together all the supports and service available to help small businesses get back on their feet. We recommend that all business owners register with Service NSW. Please do not self-assess you eligibility. Register here: https://mybusiness.service.nsw.gov.au/concierge

There is a range of significant supports available and you may be eligible for more than one type of financial assistance. For more information call 13 77 88 or check the website at www.service.nsw.gov.au. Below are two of the most accessible grants. Call 13 77 88 or the website at www.service.nsw.gov.au

Bushfire Recovery

Grants of up to $50,000 are available for businesses directly impacted.

https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/transaction/apply-bushfire-recovery-grant-directly-impacted-small-businesses

Small Business Bushfire Support Grant

A $10,000 grant for businesses whose cashflow has been impacted by the bushfires is also available. Visit www.service.nsw.gov.au/transaction/apply-small-business-bushfire-support-grant for details.

Bushfire Working Capital Loan

The bushfire working capital loan offers up to $50,000 to help businesses cover salaries or wages, rebuild infrastructure and purchase goods and services.

Also available for eligible businesses is a Bushfire Recovery Loan of up to $500,000.

Call the Bushfire Customer Care Service on 13 77 88 for further information.

https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/transaction/apply-small-business-bushfire-support-grant