North West Queensland’s Gulf Savannah region is a unique natural environment that experiences regular natural disasters and severe weather events – the region regularly faces flood, severe storms and tropical cyclones, periods of drought and bushfires. These events are happening more regularly and have a major impact on our people, communities, industries and businesses.
GSD is here to support the Gulf Savannah region, our member Councils, communities, industries and businesses.
By working together, we will be more prepared and more capable to respond to, recover from and plan for regular weather and disaster events in the Gulf.
Disaster support for our region
A repository of disaster related resources and information is available here.
Community Recovery and Resilience Program
Following severe weather events in the Gulf in November 2022 to April 2023, the Australian and Queensland Governments approved joint Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA) to support the Gulf’s community recovery and resilience. GSD is delivering the Community Recovery and Resilience Program in 2025-26 and 2026-27, including employing three very experienced and capable people to deliver community recovery and resilience initiatives across Burke, Carpentaria and Doomadgee LGAs.
GSD’s Community Recovery and Resilience Program team is:
- Beth Bickford – Team Leader. Lead delivery in Burke Shire, and strategically managing the Community Recovery and Resilience Officers in Carpentaria and Doomadgee LGAs
- Penny Jones – Lead delivery in Carpentaria Shire
- Brett Carlsson – Lead delivery in Doomadgee Shire.
Our on ground team is supported by Louise Guy who manages the complex financial governance requirements of this program.
OBJECTIVES OF THE COMMUNITY RECOVERY AND RESILIENCE PROGRAM
- to support community‐informed initiatives, facilitate linkages, collaboration and partnerships between and across groups, support and enable the development and achievement of the objectives in medium to longer term recovery and resilience planning and have a focus on building upon the local strengths and capabilities of the affected communities.
- establish a local face-to-face presence with community organisations and key community stakeholders across the affected communities to engage and identify community strengths, needs, aspirations and developmental opportunities, facilitate community planning days and to support and nurture prioritised community recovery and resilience projects.
- engage and establish strong working relationships with key stakeholders involved in community recovery at the local and district levels. This will include working with these stakeholders to ensure they can effectively plan for the long‐term sustainability of their communities and are best placed to build capacity in preparedness for and resilience to future disasters.
- to support the development of local recovery plans which are informed by local recovery needs and implemented through community informed recovery actions.
- to support the community through the recovery process and ensure their work supports and aligns with relevant Local Recovery Plans.
ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES
- undertake widespread community engagement activities to discuss the recovery process and to identify the needs and aspirations of diverse groups within the affected area
- arrange community training and education programs that facilitate the outcomes of the CRRO initiative
- support and enable capacity and skill development of individuals and groups, businesses and service providers within the affected areas
- raise awareness of, and assist community groups to, develop their capacity to submit recovery and/or resilience project proposals under the Flexible Funding Grant initiative and other grants that become available during the officer’s tenure
- promote disaster recovery and resilience information and share ideas/projects from other locations
- engage with other key workers involved in community recovery at a local level and establish links with workers funded under other initiatives of Community Recovery funding.
This project is due for completion in June 2027.
Regions Represented
we strive to represent all people, businesses, corporations in the Gulf Region, lobbying for greater funding and support from higher government institutions.
GSD also works closely with other LGAs surrounding the Gulf Savannah region to leverage opportunities, strengthen our regional economic development approaches, and develop joint initiatives.
Visitors to our region can be impacted by natural disasters and severe weather events, including road closures, emergency evacuations and booking cancellations.
If you are impacted by a disaster, you should visit relevant Council Disaster Hubs which provide the latest and most up to date information. Links to disaster hub sites are below. If you are in the region, you can also tune into the local ABC radio for updates.
For questions about bookings and cancellations, contact your accommodation, experience or transport provider directly.
Call 000 in an emergency.
