Apartment blocks in northern Queensland will have access to $60 million in federal and state funding for resilience measures, in a program similar to one already aiding houses. 

Federal Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt says grants to body corporates will help protect people in apartments from cyclones, and can also start to provide some insurance relief. 

“I think everyone understands that north Queenslanders have been struggling with spiralling insurance costs in recent years as a result of the increasing number of disasters that we are seeing in this part of the world,” he said in Townsville on Wednesday. 

The program includes $40 million in federal funds and $20 million from the state. Body corporates can apply for up to $150,000 and must put up 25% of project costs themselves. 

“What that will mean is that the insurance premiums that body corporates have to pay, and then pass onto the owners, who pass it onto their tenants, should come down as well,” Mr Watt said. 

James Cook University has been running an inspection service with body corporates across northern Queensland. Participants receive a report with resilience estimates and recommendations to minimise damage from wind, rain and storm surge.  

“We have more people ... in apartment living, and so as governments, we need to respond to that,” Townsville state MP Scott Stewart said. “We’ve got a Household Resilience Program looking at assisting those older sorts of homes to ... become more cyclone resilient, but we also needed to work in this space because of the changing of those lifestyles with those in apartment living as well.” 

Applications have opened for the Household Resilience Program’s fourth round, with $20 million in additional funding announced last year. The scheme launched in 2018. 

Owner-occupiers in houses built before 1984 and within 50km of the coastline from Bundaberg to the Queensland/NT border can apply to receive funds for 80% of improvement costs, up to a maximum grant value of $15,000 including GST.

James Cook Cyclone Testing Station Chief Engineer David Henderson says extensive research has been conducted on measures to improve the resilience of older homes and strata properties, and often one weak link can let down a building. 

“Whether it be strength and the roof peeling off, or whether it’s the flashing peeling back letting the water into a building, and then we can’t live in our house or our unit for the next 18 months until it’s repaired,” he said. “So these resilience measures are incredibly important, and they are ... based on really solid work, so we can really trust them.”

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