This time, as the flood waters recede, it is very important for small businesses to become much more resilient in their respective marketplaces and to seek assistance when they need it.

Current Assistance and Advice for people & businesses affected by the SEQ-NSW Floods:

The Morrison Government has activated the Disaster Recovery Payment (AGDRP) of $1000 per eligible adult and $400 per eligible child to support people impacted by the South East Queensland flooding event that began on 22 February.

This includes affected Queensland residents in Brisbane, Fraser Coast, Gold Coast, Ipswich, Lockyer Valley, Logan, Moreton Bay, Noosa, Redland, Scenic Rim, Somerset, South Burnett, Southern Downs, Sunshine Coast, Gympie, North Burnett and Toowoomba local government areas.

Financial support has also been activated for Northern New South Wales local government areas of Ballina, Bellingen, Byron, Clarence Valley, Coffs Harbour, Kyogle, Lismore, Richmond Valley and Tweed.

Eligible Queenslanders in these local government areas can claim support via myGov or by calling Services Australia on 180 22 66.

• Australian Government Disaster Recover Payments (QLD)
  Support for eligible people adversely affected by the South East Queensland floods in February / March 2022.
  
• Queensland Government Emergency Hardship
  The Emergency Hardship Assistance Grant is available as a contribution to support people directly impacted by a disaster to who are unable to meet their immediate essential needs for food, clothing, medical supplies or temporary accommodation.
  
• Brisbane Mud Army
  Register your property for help from the Mud Army 2.0.
  
• Register as a Mud Army Volunteer
  Brisbane City Council is partnering with Volunteering Queensland through its EV CREW program to coordinate Mud Army 2.0. Volunteering Queensland is assisting with registrations and managing offers of assistance.
  
  Emergency Contacts:
  
  Agricultural & Animal Services Hotline: 1800 814 647 (Request assistance with your animals)
  
  For emergency help in floods and storms call the SES: 132 500
  
  Life threatening emergencies: Dial 000

While no one can predict what kind of disaster will happen or where and when it will happen, we can prepare. This is the one constant and it gives SME’s great peace of mind.

Make sure you’re ready to go.

It does a lot of good things for small business owners to be ready.

It lessens the impact of the “hit” when it happens, and it helps the business get back on its feet as quickly as possible.

If we could go back in time to January 2016, five years before the disasters, crises, and pandemics we’re talking about, we’d all be very different about how we’d have prepared for the last 18 months.

Preparedness and planning are the two most important parts of good Crisis and Emergency Management. This means that if you get these two things right, the impact of the inevitable crisis and / or emergency and the aftermath is greatly reduced.

Tips for Crisis Preparation & Planning for SME’s

Pay off debt and keep some cash on hand. Interests will be low over the next 2-3 years, take advantage of this. Covid-19 could hit again or there could be another flood like the one we just saw on the East Coast. Businesses may have to close for a while, so its recommended to build up a two – to three month cash reserve in the event your business has to shut down.

In the last 18 months, a lot of people have been talking about mental health in small business and with their employees. A small business’s balance sheet will be affected in a big way by this, and the statistics show that it is very much a big deal. This needs to be fixed, and there are a lot of places you can receive help and advice from, both government and private.

It’s important for small business to break free from chains of dependance as much as possible. Everything you own, and the way you run your business should be looked at in a different way. For example:

• Have you thought of other places to stay in the event of a disaster?
• Can you share space with another small business in the event of a disaster?
• Right now, are there strategic alliances you could make now that could be used in time of need?
• Have you found other suppliers?
• Have you through about the acquisition of skilled workers if you need to quickly grow your business?