Round Four will deliver up to $142.477 million of Australian Government funding for disaster risk reduction initiatives in 2026-27.

The objectives of the program are to:

• increase the understanding of natural disaster impacts, as a first step towards reducing the risk of future natural disaster impacts,
• increase the resilience, adaptive capacity and/or preparedness of governments, community service organisations and affected communities to future natural disasters to minimise the potential impact of natural hazards and reduce the risk of future natural disasters, and
• reduce the exposure to risk, harm and/or severity of a future natural disaster's impacts, including reducing the recovery burden for governments, cohorts at disproportionate risk, and/or affected communities.

The Australian Government has announced a total of up to $1 billion over five years for the program. For Round Four, up to $142.477 million in Commonwealth funding is available in 2026-27, with up to:

• $104.608 million notionally allocated for infrastructure projects (infrastructure funding stream), encompassing the following primary project activity types as defined in the Glossary:
  • investment in grey infrastructure o investment in green-blue infrastructure (including nature-based solutions)
  • investment in social infrastructure
  • investment in natural hazard monitoring infrastructure
• $34.869 million notionally allocated for other eligible project types, and
• $3 million notionally allocated for administrative support for Lead Agencies.

A Lead Agency may only apply for funding in respect of Project Proposals where the Applicant:

• either:
  • has an Australian Business Number (ABN);
  • is a state, territory or local government body in an eligible jurisdiction; or
  • is a First Nations organisation or a Not-For-Profit organisation (as defined in the Glossary of Guidelines);
• has the capacity to enter into a legally binding agreement; and
• is not an entity listed in section 4.3 of the guidelines.

• Email: drf@emv.vic.gov.au