Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA) - Floods
Eligibility
To be eligible for financial assistance, residents must have lived in a declared Local Government Area or community at the time of the event and:
- have been evacuated
- experienced inundation (flooding) to their house
- received damage to their house due to cyclonic winds
- isolated from essential services due to their primary place of residence (house) impacted by floods or cyclone
- unable to access essential services (for example, shops in your community closed due to floods or cyclone).
Northern regions
Disaster assistance is available for multiple Top End Local Government Areas to support counter-disaster operations and restore essential public assets.
This historic event means payments will be rolled out in stages to ensure support reaches affected residents as quickly as possible.
Read more about the flooding – Northern Regions.
Eligible communities impacted by floods
The table below outlines declared LGAs and the types of assistance available. If you’re not sure which LGA you live in, see find your council.
| Katherine LGA | Coomalie LGA | Litchfield LGA | Roper Gulf LGA | Victoria Daly LGA | West Daly LGA | Darwin LGA | Palmerston LGA | Belyuen LGA | Wagait LGA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Immediate Relief Payments | ✓C | ✓*C | ✓*C | ✓*C | ✓*A | ✓*A |
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Re-establishment Assistance for essential household items | ✓A | ✓*P | ✓*P | ✓*P | ✓*A | ✓*A | ||||
Temporary Accommodation Reimbursement | ✓A | ✓*P | ✓*P | ✓*P | ✓*A | ✓*A |
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Removal of debris, personal & financial counselling for Local Governments and individuals | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Counter Disaster operations & Reconstruction of Essential Public Assets for NT and Local Governments | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
*: Roper Gulf (Beswick and Jilkminggan), Victoria Daly (Nauiyu, Daly River), West Daly (Palumpa), Coomalie and Litchfield (only homes directly impacted and confirmed through flood impact assessments).
A: active or underway (25% paid during evacuation if applicable, remaining funds paid in community of residence)
P: pending impact assessments
U: upcoming with dates to be advertised
C: applications closed
Unincorporated areas
Unincorporated areas are also included. See them listed below.
| Greater Darwin | Cox-Daly | Marrakai-Douglas Daly |
|---|---|---|---|
Removal of debris by local councils, personal & financial counselling | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Counter Disaster operations & Reconstruction of Essential Public Assets for NT and Local Governments | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Immediate Relief Payments | ✓C | ✓C | ✓C |
| Re-establishment Assistance for essential household items | ✓P | ✓P | ✓P |
| Temporary Accommodation Reimbursement | ✓P | ✓P | ✓P |
Note: eligibility criteria, payment dates and application openings are to be confirmed.
Barkly and Central Australia
Disaster assistance was extended to Barkly and Central Desert communities, including residents of Imangara (Murray Downs) and affected pastoralists, following severe flooding across Central Australia.
Eligible residents could access financial support, including immediate relief payments, temporary accommodation assistance and re-establishment grants to help replace essential household items.
Additional support is also available for primary producers and local councils, including freight subsidies and funding for clean-up operations, emergency works and infrastructure repairs.
Read more about the flooding – Northern Regions.
Eligible communities impacted by floods
The table below outlines declared LGAs and the types of assistance available. If you’re not sure which LGA you live in, see find your council.
Alice Springs LGA | Barkly LGA | Central Desert LGA | MacDonnell LGA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Immediate Relief Payments | ✓*C | ✓*C | ||
Re-establishment Assistance for essential household items | ✓*C | ✓*C | ||
Temporary Accommodation Reimbursement | ✓*C | ✓*C | ||
Removal of debris by local councils, personal & financial counselling | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Counter Disaster operations & Reconstruction of Essential Public Assets | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Freight Subsidy to primary producers | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Grants to non-profit organisations | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
*Barkly (Murray Downs and some pastoralists), Central Desert (some pastoralists)
A: active or underway (25% paid during evacuation if applicable, remaining funds paid in community of residence)
P: pending impact assessments
U: upcoming with dates to be advertised
C: applications closed
How to apply
Imangara (Murray Downs) residents who were relocated to Ali Curung during the flooding event have received their Immediate Relief Payments through direct outreach by the Department of Children and Families.
Given the smaller number of pastoralists from Barkly and Central Desert, their support payments are processed manually with our remote teams.
Financial assistance
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Immediate Relief Payments are a Northern Territory Government payment, jointly funded by the Australian Government.
These payments give immediate help to people who experienced financial hardship due to flood or cyclone events in March 2026.
Eligibility is based on where you live and how you were impacted. Payments are not means tested and include payments of $611 per adult and $309 per child, capped at $1,537 per family, with payments made via a pre-paid debit card.
For information about how to use your pre-paid debit card, see payment card rules PDF (204.0 KB).
Big Rivers region
- Applications are now closed.
Litchfield and Coomalie
- Applications are now closed.
Unincorporated areas
- Applications are now closed.
Roper Gulf
- Applications for Beswick are now closed.
- Appliations for Jilkminggan are now closed.
Barkly and Central Desert
- Applications for Murray Downs are now closed.
- Applications for pastoralists are now closed.
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For residents that were isolated from their home or who could not get to a dedicated Evacuation Centre, up to $340 per adult and $172 per child, capped at $1,160 per family is available to reimburse the cost of short-term temporary accommodation while you were unable to return home.
Income limits apply
Re-establishment and Temporary Accommodation reimbursement payments are means-tested. The following income thresholds apply.
Personal hardship and distress means test
Gross income threshold
Single adult – no children
$65,189
Single adult – with children
$84,189
2 Adults – no children (joint income)
$103,189
2 Adults – with children (joint income)
$122,190
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Emergency re-establishment assistance of up to $8,843 is also available for eligible people impacted by the March 2026 floods. Assistance is means tested and there are limits on claims. Payments are made via pre-paid cards and restrictions apply.
It is designed to assist people and families to re-establish their principal place of residence. A principal place of residence is the primary home that you live in.
Re-establishment assistance is for people who:
- do not earn enough money (annual household incomes apply) to fix their home damaged by a major emergency and
- do not have building or contents insurance and
- cannot return home because it is damaged or destroyed or cannot get to their home because of flooding on their property (road closures do not qualify) and
- haven't already had costs covered by compensation, donations, or other charity help.
For those residents who meet the income thresholds may be eligible for support to repair or replace essential household items, such as:
- beds and bedding
- furniture
- refrigerators
- washing machines
- other whitegoods
- basic household items.
Income limits apply
Re-establishment and Temporary Accommodation reimbursement payments are means-tested. The following income thresholds apply.
Personal hardship and distress means test
Gross income threshold
Single adult – no children
$65,189
Single adult – with children
$84,189
2 Adults – no children (joint income)
$103,189
2 Adults – with children (joint income)
$122,190
Prepaid restrictions apply
Pre-paid debit cards for Re-establishment Assistance must be used within 90 days of issue. Cards cannot be used for:
- gambling and adult content
- food and alcohol
- online purchases (regardless of what is being purchased)
- transport, travel and other accommodation and associated costs
- medical, dentist and other related services (including veterinary services)
- car, boat, motor homes and other similar items or services
- pools and spas
- events, entertainment and sporting activities
- professional services including government, accounting, tax and other
- withdrawing cash at an ATM.
You can check your balance online.
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Eligible residents can apply for NTG funding online.
Immediate Relief Payment (IRP)
Complete the online IRP form (you will need to attend a nominated card collection point to collect your pre-paid debit card).
Temporary Accommodation Reimbursement (TAR)
You can apply online or in person:
- complete the online TAR form (you will need to attend a Payment or Welfare Recovery Centre to collect your pre-paid debit card)
- in person at a nominated collection point.
Re-establishment Assistance (RA)
You can apply online or in person:
- complete the online RA form (you will need to attend a Payment or Welfare Recovery Centre to collect your pre-paid debit card)
- in person at a nominated collection point.
Documents you need
You must provide:
- photo ID (for example, drivers’ licence)
- proof of residence (recent rental agreement, rates notice, utilities bill, letter from employer)
- proof of family status (for example, Medicare card or Centrelink).
If you don’t have your documents, go to Australian Government's Services Australia website or see births deaths and marriages.
For re-establishment assistance and temporary accommodation reimbursement, you will also need to show proof of:
- income, such as a payslip or Centrelink payment summary
- insurance status, such as a document from your insurance company
- impact on your home, such as photos of damages or quotes for repairs
- tax receipts made out in your name for temporary accommodation costs.
Need help or have questions
If you are having trouble submitting your online claim, visit the Big Rivers Government Centre or call the Disaster Relief Payment Information line on 8999 2081 between 8am and 4pm on weekdays.