Bushfire Recovery Shoalhaven

View the Fake Tradies fact sheet for suggestions on locating reputable tradespeople.

Fake tradies (also known as ‘travelling con men’) are unscrupulous tradespeople who offer to do repairs on your property but take your money and leave you with unfinished or poor-quality work.

Fake tradies often appear after disasters such as bushfires, floods and storms. They may try to take advantage of you if you are cleaning up or repairing your property, and offer to do jobs like driveway resurfacing, branch removal or roof repairs at cheap rates.

The Service NSW Mobile Service Centre is returning to the Shoalhaven in 2021.

The dedicated Service NSW staff on board can provide support across a broad range of services including:

• Renewing a driver licence or vehicle registration
• Processing of Medical and Mobility Parking Permits
• Processing of RSA and RCG cards
• Undertaking driver knowledge tests
• Applying for births, deaths and marriages certificates
• Applications and Renewals for Working with Children Checks
• Consulting with a Cost of Living specialist for help accessing more than 70 government rebates and savings.

Mobile Service Centres will accept cashless payments by credit and debit card or cheque.

Where: Kangaroo Valley
Council Car Park (next to Nostalgia Factory)
167 Moss Vale Road
When: Monday 1 February 2021
Time: 9:00am to 3:00pm

Where: Berry
Car park behind IGA, Queen Street
When: Tuesday 2 February 2021
Time: 9:00am to 2:30pm

Where: Shoalhaven Heads
Shoalhaven Heads Bowling Club, 76 Shoalhaven Heads Road
When: Wednesday 3 February 2021
Time: 9:00am to 2:00pm

Where: Vincentia
Burton Street Car Park
When: Thursday 4 February 2021
Time: 9:00am to 2:00pm

Where: St Georges Basin
The Country Club, Links Avenue Sanctuary Point
When: Thursday 18 February 2021
Time: 10:00am to 3:00pm

Where: Sussex Inlet
Neighbourhood Centre, Corner of Jacobs Drive and Neilson Street
When: Friday 19 February 2021
Time: 9:00am to 12:00pm

For more information visit the Service NSW website.

A lot has happened over the past year, and we know it hasn’t been easy, particularly with COVID-19 impacting all the ups and downs of recovery.

As we reach anniversaries that are meaningful to each of us, there may be painful memories and difficult days for many.

Through the devastation, seeing our community throughout the year, and the way people have banded together during such a tough time has been inspiring.

The holiday season can be a difficult time for some people, and this year may be particularly tough. There is no right or wrong way to feel, and people can respond to the same event in very different ways.

There’s lots of advice around, about the kind of things that can help if you’re not feeling like your usual self like getting plenty of sleep and exercise, talking to friends and family, and making time to do something you enjoy each day.

In consultation with the National Bushfire Recovery Agency, NSW Resilience, Coordinare, and the Shoalhaven Health and Wellbeing Network, Council has developed this information sheet that we hope provides some reference and contact points for the community who may need more support.

The Mullala Nursery has Convoy of Hope, Regrow Response plants that school children have nurtured to distribute for free to Conjola and surrounds residents in postcodes 2538 and 2539.

All you need to do is register online to collect the plants and call Cassandra on 0421 980 095 before you pick them up.

When you visit Mullala Nursery, you will see the sign pictured below on where to go to collect your plants.

Mullala Nursery is open Mon-Friday 9.30-4pm and can't wait to see the natives in your gardens.

To help Convoy of Hope share with the participating schools use #RegrowResponse on social media to tag us in any photos you'd like to share!

The Bushfire Local Economic Recovery (BLER) grants are available to support economic and social recovery in areas impacted by the 2019- 2020 bushfires. The BLER Fund is intended to support job retention and creation, strengthen community resilience, and reduce the impact of future natural disasters.

The grant funding for individual projects is dependent on the project type.

1. Infrastructure projects must seek a minimum of $400,000 with a maximum available grant of $20 million.
2. Environmental projects including rehabilitation, remediation and resilience improvements must seek a minimum of $200,000 with a maximum available grant of $4 million.
3. Programs, including social, business, and environmental education initiatives must seek a minimum of $200,000 with a maximum available grant of $4 million.

An applicant must be one of the following entities:

• Councils
• Joint Organisation of Councils
• not-for-profit organisations, including business chambers, industry associations and charities
• research or academic organisations
• State Government corporations
• Local Aboriginal Land Councils.

To be eligible projects must:

• support the recovery of the local community’s economy, social well-being, environment or improve resilience to future natural disasters
• align with one of the following categories: enabling infrastructure
  • industry and business development
  • social development
  • natural environment and resource development-built environment adaption.
• projects need to be completed by June 2023.

Applications close at 2pm, Thursday 28 January 2021.

For further details, including how to apply visit the Department of Regional NSW website.

Funding:

The following general resources may help with information/guidance on submitting Grant applications.

The Australian Red Cross Applying for Community Grants webinar is available on their website.

The Shoalhaven City Council Grants Webinar can be viewed on the Council website.

Media Release:

Today, Thursday 26 November, marks one year since the start of the Currowan Bushfires in the Shoalhaven.

Shoalhaven City Council’s Mayor, Amanda Findley said “One year on Shoalhaven City Council would like to recognise the contribution, generosity, and goodwill of those who came to the aid of Shoalhaven residents during the Currowan Bushfires”.

“There are countless residents, emergency support services, volunteer groups, and community service providers, not for profits and government agencies who went above and beyond to protect our community.

Whilst it has been a challenging year the Shoalhaven has shown it is a resilient community.

And today’s message is one of hope. We have seen and continue to see extraordinary compassion and kindness shown to our community.

Let us remember to stay connected and committed to supporting one another.

For those that need assistance, we are here to help. I encourage Shoalhaven residents to access support and services by calling Council's dedicated bushfire recovery hotline on 02 4429 5888 or to visit our website for information and resources.

For those who are able to provide support, donations to the Mayoral Relief Fund are welcomed”, Clr Findley said.

The funds from the Mayoral Relief Fund have been provided to help support individuals, families and tradespeople who have been directly impacted and need it most.

Since funds have been directed to bushfire affected ratepayers and residents across the Shoalhaven in the past 8 months, over $308,000 has been given to those in need, with further funds of $114,000 to be distributed in the next few weeks.

In early March 2020, Council organised a series of Mobile Community hubs. More recently Council has supported a series of community resilience hub sessions, organised by Service NSW, to provide bushfire recovery information and support services.

Since starting in March and resuming in September, there have been over 24 sessions held across the region. These free events will continue in 2021 and are advertised on Council’s website.

The NSW Government is providing council rate relief for eligible home, farm, and business owners whose properties were damaged beyond repair in the 2019-2020 bushfires.

Support is available for Council rates for quarter 3 (January – March) and quarter 4 (April – June) of the 2019-2020 financial year with a the 6-month extension that will cover rates notices for quarter 1 (July – September) and quarter 2 (October – December) of 2020-2021.

To be eligible you must:

• be a home, farm or business property owner in a bushfire declared disaster area
• have had your property deemed damaged beyond repair by the Rural Fire Service (RFS) and/or Emergency Information Coordination Unit (EICU).

You are not eligible if the only structure damaged or destroyed is an outbuilding on the property such as a shed.

If you are would like to know more please contact the Shoalhaven Council Bushfire Recovery Customer Service Team on 02 4429 5888, or visit the Service NSW website.

Supporting communities in bushfire recovery and COVID-19 response.

Counselling services can help people struggling with personal issues. Lifeline with the support of RACV and NRMA, is proud to be able to provide a video counselling service at no cost to those who have been impacted by recent bushfires and/or COVID-19.

Appointments are available to residents within 16 effected regions as part of this program.

Services are free and you do not require a referral.

To request a video counselling appointment visit the Lifeline website.

What to expect at your first appointment

At the beginning of your first session, a counsellor will help you clarify what is happening for you and identify your goals for counselling. You will be linked with the same counsellor at each of your video counselling appointments.

About our counsellors

To ensure a professional service, all of Lifeline’s counsellors are:

• Tertiary trained

• Practicing under the supervision of experienced psychologists and counsellors.

In a crisis please call 13 11 14. We ae here to help 24/7.