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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Elias Visontay

Budget reveals flood recovery spend to top $6bn in four years after NSW and Queensland disasters

Queensland Bridget McKenzie Josh Frydenberg
Flood damaged homes in Lismore, NSW on Tuesday
Flood damaged homes in Lismore on Tuesday. The federal budget reveals the cost to taxpayers of the NSW and Queensland floods will exceed $6bn over the forward estimates. Photograph: Darren England/AAP

Commonwealth spending on flood recovery will top $6bn over the next four years, as budget papers reveal the federal government will again dip into its Emergency Response Fund and spend the maximum annual allocation of $150m in the upcoming financial year.

The Morrison government’s decision to spend the entire Emergency Response Fund annual allocation in the 2022-23 financial year comes 11 days after it backflipped on its long-held resistance to accessing the $4bn pool of funding when it announced it would withdraw $150m for the current financial year.

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