Disaster payments, grants and financial assistance available for people living in areas affected by severe floods in NSW.
3 min read
This is a short-term payment – available for a maximum of 13 weeks for those who have lost income as a direct result of the New South Wales Floods.
This will be paid from the date you started losing income. You have until 14 April 2023 to make a claim.
How much you get depends on your circumstances.
If you’re eligible, you’ll get the maximum equivalent rate of JobSeeker Payment or Youth Allowance, depending on your personal circumstances.
If your income is more than the average Australian weekly income amount of $1769.80, your payment will be reduced to zero.
You may have to pay income tax on your taxable Centrelink payments.
The DRA is short term support if your income has been directly affected by a natural disaster. In exceptional circumstances, you may get extra support with DRA Top-up.
Neither DRA or the DRA Top-Up will show on your Centrelink payment summary, or pre-fill in your income tax return. You must manually include the amounts you received in the tax year.
For more information on what you may need to do, or if you are eligible for other tax offsets, talk to TaxAssist Accountants.
You must meet eligibility rules to get DRA. You must meet all of the following criteria:
Australian Bureau of Statistics figures are used to work out the average weekly income. On 19 August 2021, this was $1,737.10 per week.
If you’re part of a couple, you can both claim this payment. You and your partner will need to make separate claims.
You must be considered to be independent to get this payment.
The following will be looked at:
There are residence rules you need to meet to get the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment or DRA.
You must either:
You will be asked to give evidence of your loss of income.
If you earn a salary or wage, you may need documents that show your income for the 4 weeks before the floods.
If your income changes each week, you may be asked to show your income for the 8 weeks before the floods.
Evidence can include any of the following:
If you’re a farmer or you have a small business, you may be asked to show as many of these documents as possible:
If you want to claim a payment or concession, you need a Centrelink Customer Reference Number (CRN). You can get a CRN by proving who you are either:
Visit the Services Australia website here to follow the 3 steps to claim the DRA.
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First published 21 Oct 2022 | Last updated 21 Oct 2022
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