The assistance, provided under the jointly-funded Commonwealth-State Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements (NDRRA), has been extended to a further seven communities.

Coolamon, Junee, Murrumbidgee, Narrabri, Narranderra and Weddin will also receive assistance, Justice Minister Michael Keenan and NSW Deputy Premier Troy Grant announced yesterday.

”We are closely monitoring the flood situation and will make assistance available to other communities as required to allow local governments to get on with the job of rebuilding as quickly as possible,” Mr Grant said.

Under the NDRRA, a range of assistance is available to help flood affected individuals, small businesses, primary producers, and the local councils with their recovery, including: help for eligible people whose homes or belongings have been damaged; support for affected local councils to help with the costs of cleaning up and restoring damaged essential public assets; concessional interest rate loans for small businesses, primary producers and not-for-profit organisations; freight subsidies for primary producers; and grants to not-for-profit organisations.

A total of 28 local government areas now have access to NDRRA assistance: Bathurst, Bland, Blayney, Bogan, Cabonne, Coolamon, Coonamble, Cootamundra-Gundagai, Cowra, Dubbo, Forbes, Gilgandra, Hilltops, Junee, Lachlan, Mid-Western, Murrumbidgee, Narrabri, Narrandera, Narromine, Orange, Parkes, Temora, Walgett, Warren, Warrumbungle, Weddin and Yass Valley.

For information on personal hardship and distress assistance, contact the Disaster Welfare Assistance Line on 1800 018 444. To apply for a concessional loan, grant or freight subsidy, contact the NSW Rural Assistance Authority on 1800 678 593 or visit raa.nsw.gov.au.

Further information on disaster assistance is available at disasterassist.gov.au and emergency.nsw.gov.au.