The federal government will provide up to $142.5 million for projects proposed through the Disaster Ready Fund’s fourth round of applications, as insurers stress the importance of investment in “hard mitigation infrastructure”.

Proposals must be submitted to state or territory lead agencies by July 1, and the National Emergency Management Agency will then consider them under co-funding arrangements.

The federal funding includes $104.6 million notionally for infrastructure projects, $34.9 million for other proposals and $3 million for lead agency administration.

Construction-ready infrastructure projects or those “with demonstrated insurance co-benefits” will be given preference when applications are rated similarly by an assessment panel.

This year’s $200 million allocation sets aside $57.5 million for four national programs to improve resilience through firefighting capabilities and a messaging system to deliver alerts to mobile devices and landlines during emergencies.

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Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBain says disasters are becoming more frequent and severe.

“We’re working closely with states, territories and local governments to make sure communities right across the country are better prepared,” she said. “Our continued investment through the Disaster Ready Fund demonstrates how serious we are.”

The fund will allocate $1 billion over five years, and the first successful applicants were announced in June 2023. More than 450 projects have been accepted across three rounds so far and funds committed have exceeded $1.1 billion including partner contributions.

The Insurance Council of Australia says funding should be focused on hard mitigation infrastructure such as levees, flood barriers and other physical projects that directly reduce risk for communities and help address the protection gap.

“ICA has long advocated for the [fund] to be a rolling, ongoing program, providing the certainty governments and communities need to plan and deliver mitigation infrastructure at scale,” a spokesperson told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

The peak body says it looks forward to working with government through the Hazards Insurance Partnership to identify priority projects with the greatest impact.

ICA’s pre-budget submission noted allocations last round included smaller projects that would not materially reduce risk and education programs unlikely to have any impact on levers driving up premiums.

“The critical challenge for the Disaster Ready Fund remains that the scale of funding does not match the size of the hazard risk reduction needed to protect Australian homes and business in our most disaster-exposed locations,” the submission said.