The Australian Government has established the Disaster Ready Fund (DRF). The DRF will provide up to one billion dollars over the next five years, from 2023-24 to help communities protect themselves against the impacts of natural hazards across Australia.
NTES is the lead agency coordinating and submitting applications for the DRF on behalf on the NT.
Disaster Ready Fund - Round Three 2025-26 - now closed
Applications for Round Three closed on 16 April 2025. Please refer below to the Key Dates regarding information the timeline for assessment and announcement of successful projects.
Key Dates:
Activity | Date |
Applications opened | Wednesday 22 January 2025 |
Applications closed | Wednesday 16 April 2025 - 5.00pm |
NTES review applications | April – June 2025 |
NTES submit applications to NEMA | Friday 13 June 2025 |
Successful projects announced | Second half of 2025 |
Note: The above timeline is provided as a guide only and may be subject to change.
Key aspects about this grant round opportunity
- emphasis on the importance of enduring project benefits for communities;
- support both infrastructure and other projects, but with a greater focus on infrastructure (dedicated funding of up to $138 million);
- there is a minimum value of $0.5 million for infrastructure projects and allow more time to deliver these projects (up to five years);
- clarity of business as usual activities that are not eligible eg standard capital works or essential services that fall under the remit of governments;
- rules related to historical investments have been tightened to ensure new investment is supported;
- support applicants that have less capacity to raise co-contributions by changing the waiver co-contribution process, which has been replaced with a tiered approach;
- jurisdictional application limits have been introduced, which are aimed at ensuring the most competitive applications are considered. NT has a cap of 30 applications.
For more information on the Round Three Program, please refer to National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) DRF R3 Guidelines:
Further information
Please click here to see all projects funded under the DRF. For more information about the Disaster Ready Fund in the Northern Territory, please contact NTES at NTDRF@pfes.nt.gov.au