​7.1 Overview

Multiple financial arrangements, including funding programs, are available in Queensland to assist state and local governments, businesses, primary producers and NGOs to prepare for, prevent, respond to and recover from disaster events.

When seeking funding, all state and local government agencies must adhere to their relevant legislation, policies and procedures and also meet the specific requirements of the particular funding program.

7.2 Governance

State and local government agencies must have an appropriate governance framework in place when managing disasters to enable them to perform their functions efficiently and effectively, while meeting their responsibilities and obligations.

Government bodies should also observe the core governance principles of:

• transparency
• accountability
• integrity, including the resolution of potential and actual conflicts of interest with selflessness and objectivity in the public interest
• due diligence
• economy, efficiency and effectiveness.

Local governments must also align with the Local Government Act 2009 with Brisbane City Council aligning to the City of Brisbane Act 2010.

Further information on planning and governance is located at the Queensland Government's Shared Services website.

7.3 Procurement Policy

Even during a disaster, any expenditure agencies incur must be in accordance with their procurement policy and the requirements detailed in the relevant funding program.

When procuring goods or services local governments must align with the Local Government Act 2009 and the Local Government Regulation 2012 and their own council procurement policy.

The Local Government Regulation 2012 Chapter 6, 235(c) states a local government may enter into a medium-sized contractual arrangement or large-sized contractual arrangement without first inviting written quotes or tenders if a genuine emergency exists. A disaster situation meets this exception.

If expenditure is in breach of the agency's procurement standards, then reimbursement of these costs should not be sought under the funding program.

State government agencies must comply with the Queensland Procurement Policy.

Further information on the Queensland Procurement Policy is available at the Queensland Government's Shared Services website.

7.4 Financial accountability

During disaster events, state government agencies and local governments must comply with the Financial Accountability Act 2009 and other relevant acts as appropriate.

Further information about financial accountability is available at Queensland Treasury's website.

7.5 Funding for state and local governments

Funding programs that can assist state and local governments, businesses, primary producers and NGOs to prepare for, prevent, respond to and recover from disaster events are provided within the toolkit. This list is not exhaustive and not all funding is available each year or disaster event.

RG.1.243 Funding Sources Reference Guide

7.6 Offers of assistance

Offers of assistance may be spontaneous or may be solicited by disaster management groups, NGOs or the state government. It is not mandatory to accept offers of assistance.

The categories of offers of assistance are:

• financial
• volunteering
• goods and services.

Offers of assistance are not to be used to rebuild government owned infrastructure and should not be considered an alternative to appropriate levels of insurance.

7.6.1 Financial donations

Financial donations are used to provide immediate financial relief and assistance, support human and social recovery, and increase individual and community resilience to future disaster events.

Financial donations are the preferred form of assistance. A financial donation enables precise matching of assistance with need, it does not require transport and is an opportunity to spend locally, benefiting the local economy and assisting in the recovery of the community.

Financial donations may be managed internally within a government agency or disaster management group, or may be outsourced to, for example, a NGO. Either way, sufficient resources must be allocated to ensure proper governance processes are maintained.

Financial donations may be offered spontaneously, or in response to an appeal. Early and consistent public messaging is crucial to ensure spontaneous donations are appropriately directed.

In exceptional circumstances – where the scale of the disaster impact warrants significant assistance – the Queensland Government may activate a Disaster Relief Appeal. This must tempered with the risks of:

• 'disaster appeal fatigue'
• the expectation that every disaster will result in an appeal
• a perception that funds from appeals can replace appropriate levels of insurance.

This is a significant risk in Queensland, where multiple disasters can occur each year.

A relief appeal can be activated through:

• a Queensland Government donation to a range of NGOs who will administer a public appeal on behalf of the state, where the public donates direct to them (this is the most timely and efficient way to support affected communities by allowing the disbursement of urgent support services to be scaled to community need at the NGOs' discretion)
• through the Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal Fund (PDRA) – a public appeal administered by the Queensland Government.

LDMGs may wish to establish a Mayoral Appeal Fund or similar, which could be administered internally or outsourced. If the complexity of the arrangements or the management of financial donations is beyond their capacity, the LDMG should refer offers of assistance to an appropriate NGO.

When an appeal is appropriate, receiving donations and distributing financial assistance to those in need is better suited and can be more efficiently managed through existing business models of NGOs.

Where no appeal fund exists, offers of financial assistance should be referred to reputable NGOs working with affected persons.

7.6.2 Volunteers

Volunteers are individuals, groups or organisations (including staff time offered by corporate and professional entities) that offer to assist a community affected by a disaster. Volunteers provide crucial support to disaster affected communities and individuals. They can help build community resilience and assist with disaster response and recovery.

Councils and organisations seeking volunteers can contact reputable volunteering NGOs for assistance with managing spontaneous volunteers.

7.6.3 Goods and Services

Donations of goods and services may be solicited or unsolicited, and can be offered by members of the public, community, businesses, organisations and corporate entities to support individuals and communities following disaster events. These offers may be for free, at cost or at a reduced or discounted rate.

Solicited goods and services are items or services which have been specifically requested and are based on the assessed needs of disaster affected individuals and communities.

Unsolicited goods and services are items or services that may or may not meet the assessed needs of the community and are therefore unwanted. Typically, these are best discouraged as the management of such items can divert resources from recovery efforts.

LDMGs may choose to manage the offers of goods and services or outsource the function to a nominated service delivery entity, such as GIVIT.

All corporate offers of goods and services should be referred to GIVIT including highly useful and relevant donations of goods and services, animal services, technical services and perishable foods.

P.1.201 Offers of Assistance Policy (PDF, 197 KB)

M.1.202 Managing Offers of Assistance Manual (PDF, 730.2 KB)

L.1.204 GIVIT Disaster and Emergency Recovery Service

7.6.4 Referral pathways

The referral pathways for the various types of assistance are summarised below.

The Department of Premier and Cabinet's Communication Services manage public messaging for any whole of government disaster response, including appeals for offers of assistance. Key activities in this response include:

• collaboration with Smart Services Queensland on script content for telephone queries
• activation and management of a specific qld.gov.au website providing advice on how to donate
• liaison with lead agencies to ensure up-to-date content.

7.7 Council to council arrangements

C2C arrangements responds to the needs of councils affected by natural disasters and acknowledges the desire of unaffected councils to support their colleagues during these events.

Local requests for C2C support are made through the RFA process to the DDC via the LDMG. Additional information about the RFA process is in Chapter 5: Response.

Further information about the C2C program is available by contacting the LGAQ.

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