Community Recovery Grants Program available for those in need from WA

Staff Writer
Community Recovery Grants Program
Image credit: Natee K Jindakum via Shutterstock

The Department of Local Government, Sport, and Cultural Industries in Western Australia is getting behind the Community Recovery Grants Program.

The grant has been made available to assist communities affected by the events associated with ex-Tropical Cyclone Ellie in late 2022.

Funding will go towards rebuilding local groups and community organisations so that they can deliver activities and events to support general social and emotional wellbeing, with access to resources a key pillar of building resilience.

This grant program is part of the Community Social Recovery Program – jointly funded through the Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.

The program offers three initiative grant types:

  1. Small Community Initiative Grants for projects ranging from $2500 to $20,000
  2. Large Community Initiative Grants for projects ranging from $20,001 to $100,000.
  3. Additionally, there is an opportunity for claims up to $75,000 for clean-up and repair expenses.

This covers the following four Local Government areas:

  • Shire of Broome
  • Shire of Derby-West Kimberley
  • Shire of Halls Creek
  • Shire of Wyndham-East Kimberley

Eligibility to apply will depend on which of the above streams is chosen depending on the organisation.

Organisations who can apply for the Small and Large Community Recovery Grants are:

  • Not-for-profit organisations incorporated either under the Associations Incorporation Act 2015 (WA) or Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) with an Australian Business Number (ABN).
  • Indigenous organisations registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (Cth).
  • Exceptional consideration may also be given for an organisation or agency to auspice an application on behalf of a community group, noting that some community groups may not have capacity to apply for or administer funds.

Organisations who can apply for the Clean-up Recovery Grant are:

  • Not-for-profit organisations incorporated either under the Associations Incorporation Act 2015 (WA) or Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) with an Australian Business Number (ABN).
  • Indigenous organisations registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (Cth) that:
    • relies on grant funding or donations for the majority of income
    • has an active Australian Business Number (ABN) and that ABN was active prior to and during the disaster
    • suffered direct damage as a result of flooding associated with ex-Tropical Cyclone Ellie to the organisation’s premise and/or plant and equipment and the cost of repair or replacement are the applicant’s responsibility
    • was conducting operations and/or services (at least sometime on a regular basis) in the disaster area prior to and at the time of the event
    • has, or intends to, re-establish operations/services in the disaster area.

With the Community Recovery Grants remaining open for applications until April 30, 2025 – there is still plenty of time to submit an application.

For full details, you can find them here.

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Football NSW builds life‑saving network as cardiac safety push expands

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Image Credit: Football NSW

Football NSW has distributed 20 defibrillators to associations and regional clubs through its Every Beat Matters campaign, part of a broader push to improve cardiac emergency preparedness across the state’s football network.

Sixteen of the devices were presented to participating associations at the inaugural Football NSW Association Championships in Mudgee. A further four went to regional clubs: Cowra and District Soccer Club, Westside Panthers, Yerrinbool Bargo Soccer Club and Narooma Football Club.

The rollout builds on the Heartbeat of Sport AED Mapping Project, which is mapping defibrillator placement at sporting facilities across NSW with funding from the Minns Labor Government. Twelve football associations have joined the effort, including Eastern Suburbs, Manly Warringah, Granville, Southern Districts, Nepean, Northern Suburbs, Football Canterbury, Bankstown, Hills, Sutherland Shire, North West Sydney Football and Football South Coast.

Data collected through the mapping project is being fed into NSW Ambulance’s GoodSAM emergency response system and NSW Health’s public AED map, enabling first responders to locate nearby defibrillators in real time.

The initiative responds to a gap that had gone largely unexamined. More than 2,400 defibrillators have been deployed across NSW sports facilities through the Local Sport Defibrillator Grant Program, which offers grants of up to $3,000 to eligible organisations. But a device not registered in emergency response systems provides significantly less value than one that is accurately mapped and immediately locatable.

The urgency is not abstract. At Doyalson Wyee Football Club, a 70‑year‑old player survived a sudden on‑field cardiac arrest because an AED was available on site. Survival rates drop by about 10 per cent for every minute without defibrillation.

Football NSW is also establishing a long‑term defibrillator register to track equipment distribution, access and maintenance across all 636 clubs and 31 associations. The Every Beat Matters campaign, supported by Toyota and St John Ambulance, aims to raise about $240,000 through a raffle to fund an initial rollout of 65 defibrillators to clubs currently without access, prioritising regional and lower socio‑economic areas.

The #HeartHealthMatters Program is delivering CPR and AED familiarisation training to sporting organisations, with a particular focus on regional communities where ambulance response times are often longer and volunteer bases smaller.

The ambition, in the words of project organisers, is straightforward: that no preventable death occurs on a football ground because the right equipment was not there, or could not be found.

Victorian Labor commits $500,000 to Thornbury Football Facility as State Election Advocacy Intensifies

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Image Credit: Kat Theophanous MP Facebook

The Victorian Labor Party has confirmed $500,000 in 2026-27 State Budget funding to upgrade facilities at Mayer Park in Thornbury, with Northcote MP Kat Theophanous joining Darebin United juniors for a training session earlier this month to mark the commitment. The funding follows a public campaign by Football Victoria highlighting the ground’s deteriorating conditions, and lands within an escalating advocacy effort by the sport ahead of the next Victorian election.

The money will go toward upgrading the playing surface and planning a new pavilion at a ground that has received no infrastructure investment in over a decade, according to Football Victoria, despite participation at Darebin United more than quadrupling in that time. The club fielded five teams in 2021. It now fields more than 20, with over 300 players including more than 130 children under 12 and over 70 female players.

That growth has collided directly with the limits of the ground itself. Mayer Park has no drainage and no synthetic surface, and Football Victoria reported that Darebin United lost 23 training sessions in 2024 alone due to unsafe, waterlogged conditions. Club President Michael Slaughter described a pitch that was uneven and at times dangerous, particularly for junior and female players.

“I have been there for six years, and the club is at a stage now that we need something new,” Slaughter said in comments to Football Victoria earlier this year. “There’s only so many training sessions you can cancel, and then there’s the cost of finding alternative grounds indoors or outdoors, which isn’t ideal.”

A campaign that found its target

Football Victoria published a dedicated article in March calling on Darebin City Council to urgently prioritise redevelopment of Mayer Park, explicitly linking the club’s case to its broader Level the Playing Field campaign. Three months later, the funding arrived, not from council, but from the state government, attached to the local member’s name and delivered with a photo opportunity on the training pitch.

A club’s need becomes visible through governing body advocacy, a local member adopts the cause, and the funding is announced as a direct response to community need rather than as a line item in a broader budget process. Theophanous’s own account of the announcement makes the local framing explicit, describing the investment alongside free public transport, school upgrades and registration discounts as part of what she has billed as “easier, safer and more affordable” support for Northcote.

“Community sporting clubs bring Northcote locals together,” Theophanous said in her budget statement. “Through our Get Active Kids voucher program, we’re making sure the cost of fees and equipment doesn’t keep kids from playing the sport they love. And we’re also investing to make local clubs even stronger.”

Earlier this year, Avondale FC secured $500,000 for lighting at Avenger Park and Hume City FC received $250,000 for upgrades at Nasiol Stadium, both delivered through the same budget cycle and both paired with local member announcements. Mayer Park follows the same pipeline, a state government commitment, a local seat, a community club whose growth has outpaced its facilities, and a governing body using the win as evidence in a larger campaign.

The equity dimension

What distinguishes the Mayer Park case is the explicit role gender and accessibility played in Football Victoria’s advocacy. The governing body noted that unsafe pitch conditions were particularly dangerous for junior and female players, and highlighted that Darebin United maintains 40% female representation on its committee with seven female coaches, alongside its status as one of Darebin’s first 2-Star Club Changer accredited clubs, a Football Victoria program recognising clubs that actively remove barriers to female participation.

A club building one of the more credible female participation pathways in the municipality was, until this announcement, doing so on a ground its own administrators described as unsafe. Infrastructure investment of this kind does not simply improve playing conditions. It determines whether programs explicitly designed to grow women’s and girls’ football can function as intended, or whether they remain constrained by the same ageing facilities that have shaped community football for a decade.

What it means for the campaign ahead

Football Victoria has framed the Mayer Park outcome as one data point within its Level the Playing Field campaign, which continues to call for more equitable government investment in football relative to other codes. The organisation has indicated further football-related announcements are expected from the 2026-27 Victorian State Budget, with the upcoming state election positioned as the decisive moment for the sport’s broader infrastructure future.

For Slaughter, the immediate outcome is more concrete. “The funding is extremely important,” he said. “It allows us to deliver our football program and to grow. This will give them a place to come, to have fun and to enjoy their soccer”.

Whether that template, governing body advocacy, local political adoption, budget announcement, repeats consistently enough to address the scale of Victoria’s grassroots facilities gap remains the open question Football Victoria’s campaign is designed to keep in front of both major parties as the election approaches.

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