LGA South Australia has welcomed the Federal Government’s latest funding through Round Three of the Disaster Ready Fund, delivering more than $10 million to boost community resilience across the state.
LGA President, Mayor Heather Holmes-Ross said the investment strengthens the work councils are doing to prepare for more frequent floods, storms and coastal hazards.
“Councils carry a significant amount of responsibility when disasters hit and play key roles in the readiness, response and recovery phases alongside government agencies and emergency services. This disaster ready funding will support key projects across the state,” Mayor Holmes-Ross said.
“Local government works closely with communities to understand the risks in their regions, and we thank the federal government for backing projects that will build disaster preparedness in South Australia.”
A key project in this funding round is LGA’s award-winning Climate Ready Coasts, delivered in partnership with SA Coast Protection Board, Department for Environment and Water, Adelaide Coastal Councils Network and SA Coastal Councils Alliance.
The program is helping coordinate consistent statewide approaches to coastal hazard adaptation, improve understanding of coastal risk at local, regional and statewide levels and increase capacity and knowledge of adaptation planning.
All this work helps to drive evidence-based decisions and investments in the coast.
The latest $2.2 million in federal investment will ensure all coastal councils in the state can access the resources they need to prepare a Coastal Hazard Adaptation Plan, develop a statewide prioritisation framework to help evaluate and rank coastal disaster risk reduction projects, and further strengthen collaboration between state and local government.
“The Climate Ready Coasts program has already delivered research-backed resources and guidelines to support statewide consistency on how we approach coastal adaptation and produced new statewide coastal hazard datasets to underpin the work,” Mayor Holmes-Ross said.
“This latest funding is critical for the next phase of work, which LGA and its partners will deliver between 2026 and 2029.
“Earlier this year, we saw king tides, severe winds and rising seas erode sand from beaches and cause significant damage to jetties across South Australia, which is why adaptation planning is so important.
“Our climate is changing, and we need to be ready to meet future challenges, especially when it comes to our iconic coastlines.”
The timing of this investment comes just days after LGA’s Climate Ready Coasts was formally recognised, winning the Climate Change and Resilience category at the Planning Institute of Australia’s Awards for Planning Excellence.
That recognition confirmed the work of the program is nation-leading in coastal hazard adaptation and setting a benchmark in the sector.
Visit the National Emergency Management Agency website for the full list of projects funded through Round Three of the Disaster Ready Fund.
