Small Business Recovery Assistance Grant Program – 2025 North and Far North Tropical Low

This grant provides financial support to small and family businesses in defined disaster areas significantly disrupted by the North and Far North Tropical Low weather event (29 January to 28 February 2025) to re-establish operations and maintain employment.

The program is administered by the Department of Customer Services, Open Data and Small and Family Business (CDSB). It is jointly supported by the Australian and Queensland governments under the Commonwealth State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).

Available funding

You may be eligible to receive a single up-front grant payment of up to $15,000 (excluding GST).

How funding may be used

Grants are provided for extraordinary costs related to re-establishing business operations and sustaining employment. Costs must be directly related to damage or impacts caused by the event.

This includes:

• paying salaries or wages to employees
• covering rent or rates associated with the business premises
• replacement of stock that was lost, spoiled, or rendered unusable due to the disaster and is not eligible for funding under the Exceptional Disaster Assistance Recovery Grant
• professional services related to disaster recovery
• marketing expenses aimed at regaining lost customers and re-establishing the business post-disaster.

We will not reimburse expenses already supported through other disaster grants or loans, such as the Disaster Assistance Loan or the Disaster Assistance (Essential Working Capital) Loan, or damages or losses funded through insurance claims.

We will not fund goods, services, or fees from related parties. Related parties include companies with common shareholdings or directors, mutual employees, or immediate family members.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible for this grant, your business must:

• have less than 20 employees (by headcount) at both the time of the disaster and the time of application. Employee headcount refers to the number of individuals employed by the business, including full-time, part-time, and casual employees. Each person is counted as one, regardless of the number of hours worked
• have an annual turnover of less than $10 million
• have an active Australian Business Number (ABN) and have held that ABN at both the time of disaster and the time of application
• be registered for GST at both the time of the disaster and the time of application
• be located within one of the following local government areas:
  • Burdekin Shire Council
  • Cairns Regional Council
  • Cassowary Coast Regional Council
  • Charters Towers Regional Council
  • Hinchinbrook Shire Council
  • Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council
  • Townsville City Council
  • Yarrabah Aboriginal Shire Council
• have been actively trading immediately prior to being affected by the disaster event
• demonstrate an intent to continue or continued in business after the disaster event
• not be insolvent or have owners/directors that are undischarged bankrupt
• demonstrate that, for a consecutive period of at least 14 days due to the impact of the specified disaster event, your business either:
  • was completely unable to conduct trading activities
    or
  • experienced a decrease in revenue of at least 60% compared to the same 14-day period in 2024 (or the same 14-day period in 2023, if your 2024 revenue was impacted by Tropical Cyclone Jasper).*

*If your business has been actively trading for less than 12 months – and you are unable to compare revenue to the same 14-day period in the previous year – you will need to provide copies of a Business Activity Statement (BAS) for Q2 and Q3 for the 2024-25 Financial Year that shows a 60% reduction in revenue as a result of the disaster. If your business has been trading for less than 12 months and has not submitted a BAS for Q2, you will not be eligible for this grant.

If you operate more than one small business – for example, under a single ABN at separate locations – you may apply for assistance for each eligible separate business up to the maximum amount of assistance available

Check your eligibility

Use the eligibility checker before you apply. You can also review the application guidelines for further information.

Application process

You must submit your application through the SmartyGrants portal.

Only the business owner can submit the application. We will not accept applications or responses submitted by third parties. Only submit realistic and probable answers and evidence in your application, noting that you may be required to provide this at any time at our discretion.

To apply, you must provide all necessary supporting information and evidence:

• completed 100-point identification check form or certified copies of identification documents totalling 100 points, witnessed by an authorised person (e.g. Justice of the Peace, Commissioner for Declarations or solicitor)
• bank statements supporting non-trading (closure) period or reduction in revenue:
  • if applying based on a non-trading (closure) period, statements must cover the disaster period to verify the absence of trading activity
  • if applying based on a reduction in revenue, you must provide bank statements for both the disaster period and the corresponding period in the previous year. Businesses affected by Tropical Cyclone Jasper, as well as this current event, may use statements from the same period two years prior for comparison. Statements must clearly show deposits and transactions to substantiate the claimed income loss
  • if your business has been actively trading for less than 12 months – and you are unable to provide a bank statement for the same 14-day period in the previous year – you must instead provide Business Activity Statements (BAS) for both Q2 and Q3 of the 2024–25 Financial Year. These must demonstrate a 60% reduction in revenue as a result of the disaster. Businesses that have not submitted a BAS for Q2 will not be eligible
• evidence of disaster impact, such as 5 to 10 photographs or other substantiating documentation
• bank statements and additional supporting documentation of eligible expenses incurred since the disaster, up to the amount applied for. Additional supporting documentation may include:
  • insurance claim documents
  • receipts for repairs and other disaster recovery assistance funding
  • tax invoices for eligible recovery expenses.

While not mandatory, supporting materials such as social media posts, booking cancellations, or customer communications regarding business closure or trading impacts may assist in demonstrating the extent of the impact.

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Assessment of applications

Lodging an application does not guarantee that funding will be approved.

Applications will be assessed, and decisions will be made as soon as practicable, usually within 2-3 weeks of submission. Your application may be deemed ineligible if you haven’t provided enough information and supporting documentation. We may request further information to help assess an application.

Applications are assessed for compliance against the eligibility criteria within these guidelines and their competitiveness with the program guidelines and assessment criteria; applicants must demonstrate the extent to which the grant-funded activity:

• meets a genuine financial need
• aligns with the program's objectives, such as re-establishing business operations, maintaining employment, and covering extraordinary costs related to recovery
• contributes to community stability and recovery
• demonstrates value for money.

Successful applicants

Funding agreement and payment

If successful, you must enter into a funding agreement with us to receive funding of up to $15,000 (excluding GST). Funding is paid when you accept the funding agreement.

The funding agreement consists of:

• the letter of agreement
• any other terms agreed in writing between the parties
• the terms and conditions
• the application guidelines
• the submitted application.

Surveys

You must provide an outcomes survey within 3 months of receiving funds. You will receive an email when the survey is available for completion in SmartyGrants.

More information

For more information about the program, read the key documents and information:

• application guidelines
• terms and conditions
• sample application form.

View our small business grants schedule to learn what other support you may be eligible for.

Subscribe to the Business Queensland Connect newsletter for the latest information for Queensland small businesses.

Contact us

For further information about the program email disastergrants@desbt.qld.gov.au or contact the Small Business Hotline on 1300 654 687.

Check your eligibility

To be eligible for this grant, your business must meet the eligibility criteria and other conditions of the program.