The federal and Victorian governments will fund almost $2.5 million to help better protect the Rural City of Wangaratta and other North East communities from future natural disasters. Federal Minister for Emergency Management, Kristy McBain, confirmed on Friday two grants through the federal Disaster Ready Fund for two separate projects which seek to strengthen disaster planning and preparedness across North East Victoria. A grant of $687,794, to be matched with $792,551 in state funding, will focus on climate risk reduction across the municipalities of Alpine, Benalla, Campaspe, Indigo, Mansfield, Mitchell, Moira, Murrindindi, Strathbogie, Towong, Wangaratta and Wodonga. According to the 'Planning Together for Regional Climate Risk Reduction' brief, the project will combine climate projections with asset data from state agencies, councils and industry to map the distribution of climate-related disaster risks across interconnected systems. "It will develop an enterprise digital tool pilot in the Goulburn Murray region for system-wide climate risk assessment and resilience planning, which will identify shared priorities for risk reduction and define intervention actions with viable financing and delivery pathways," the brief reads. Victorian Minister for Emergency Services Paul Edbrooke said Victoria is also leading a $1 million multi-jurisdictional project to share emergency information and deliver joint training between North East Victoria and southern New South Wales to help to strengthen disaster preparedness and response across rural communities. Both the federal and state governments are funding $490,000 each for the 'Upper Murray Cross Border Emergency Management Network' project, which covers the municipalities of Albury, Alpine, Greater Hume, Hume, Indigo, Mansfield, Murrumbidgee, Snowy Monaro, Towong, Wagga Wagga, Wangaratta and Wodonga. "The project will establish a regional emergency information exchange, deliver joint emergency management training and exercises, and implement a formal cross-border governance framework," the brief said. "Outcomes include improved situational awareness, coordinated decision-making, stronger health service continuity, enhanced emergency capability and greater community resilience during natural disasters." A Rural City of Wangaratta spokesperson said council welcomed the funding. "As a regional centre, our community and infrastructure are exposed to the impacts of climate change and increasingly severe weather events, so planning for these risks is important to our long-term resilience," they said. "We look forward to receiving further detail about the projects and what it will mean for our region.” The two projects were among 11 in Victoria sharing in almost $37m from federal and state governments to help communities prepare for and withstand the impacts of natural hazards. Minister Edbrooke said the funding will deliver practical projects that help protect lives, homes and communities from future disasters. “These projects will help communities across Victoria better prepare for emergencies, reduce the damage they cause and recover faster when disaster strikes,” he said.
