Joint media release: $600,000 to build capacity, resilience at Vonda Youngman Hub

Funding for capacity improvements to the Vonda Youngman centre on Tamborine Mountain will ensure the eastern communities of the Scenic Rim are better prepared for future disasters.

Federal Member for Wright, Scott Buchholz announced $600,000 in joint funding to deliver the necessary infrastructure on Tamborine Mountain, to ensure the community had disaster recovery capacity.

“The Local Economic Recovery (LER) program was developed to not just support the local economies hit hard by various disasters, but to support community and regional recovery and build capacity in our communities.

“$600,000 will go towards upgrading the Vonda Youngman centre to be developed into a community hub and recovery centre.

“This is infrastructure that will help improve cohesion in the community, bring people together in the good times and in the bad,” Mr Buchholz said.

Scenic Rim Regional Council Mayor Greg Christensen said Cyclone Debbie, 2019 bushfires and recent flood events have demonstrated the necessity of ensuring the region has adequate infrastructure in place to support local communities.

“In times of disaster, it has been challenging to have the time or resources to activate evacuation centres or community hubs.

“This investment is proactive, it is mutually beneficial for the normal times and times of disaster – however it helps future-proof our position, so we are not scrambling for assets to support those hardest hit.

“I welcome the LER program and the benefits it is delivering for the Scenic Rim and our capacity and resilience to manage future disasters,” Cr Christensen said.

“Sadly, in Australia natural disasters are a reality of our landscape, in our part of the world we have seen that with cyclone, floods and fire. We must ensure the right infrastructure is in place to support our communities,” Mr Buchholz said.

On 11 May 2020 the Prime Minister announced $448.5 million to support bushfire recovery, with $350 million available for Local Economic Recovery (LER) funding and $98.5 million available for Complementary Projects. LER funding is being matched by relevant state governments (NSW, VIC, QLD and SA), to support community and regional recovery.

The program is administered by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA) on behalf of the Commonwealth and Queensland Governments.

For more information visit www.qra.qld.gov.au/LER.