{"id":373332,"date":"2026-06-17T10:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T00:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=373332"},"modified":"2026-06-17T10:32:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T00:32:06","slug":"council-joins-campaign-against-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2026\/06\/17\/council-joins-campaign-against-cuts\/","title":{"rendered":"Council Joins Campaign Against Cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"

June 17, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

South Burnett Regional Council has joined the fight against proposed Federal Government changes to disaster funding arrangements.<\/p>\n

Under the Federal Government plan, announced on June 5, Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements support to State Governments would drop to a 50\/50 split.<\/p>\n

This has been calculated as a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars to Queensland every year which councils believe will inevitably lead to a greater burden on their ratepayers.<\/p>\n

At Wednesday’s Council meeting, South Burnett councillors voted to sign the LNP’s listen2qld.com\/disaster-funding<\/a><\/strong> petition against the changes.<\/p>\n

Council will also make a formal submission to the National Emergency Management Agency as well as writing to State and Federal MPs and Queensland Senators.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A formal meeting with the Federal Minister has been organised alongside the Australian Local Government Association conference in Canberra later this month.<\/p>\n

South Burnett councillors are also concerned that “betterment” funding has been slashed. This funding allows infrastructure to be built to withstand damage rather than just being continually repaired.<\/p>\n

They say that the Disaster Ready Fund, a replacement for cancelled Betterment programs, has been cut from $200 to $142.5 million in 2026-27.<\/p>\n