Communities will receive culturally targeted assistance to help them recover from last month's devastating floods in Western Australia's far north.
Working in teams of four, government-appointed community members will help Bunuba, Gooniyandi, Walmajarri and Nyikina communities in the Kimberley region to access disaster relief in their preferred language. They will also assist with repatriation efforts.
"The importance of local knowledge and experience cannot be understated," Kimberley state MP Divina D'Anna said.
It's the first time this approach to disaster recovery has been trialled in WA.
Bhiamie Williamson, a Euahlayi man from NSW and researcher at the Australian National University's Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, in 2022 published a paper looking at post-disaster recovery after the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20.
"There is a huge gap in policy when it comes to supporting Indigenous peoples in disasters, with very little regard as to how disasters impact Indigenous peoples in ways that are different to others," he said in a press release at the time.
