Premier's Natural Disaster Recovery Fund - Cyclone Narelle - Small Businesses - 2026

IMPORTANT: Please read the information below to assist with completing your application online.

Premier’s Natural Disaster Recovery Fund – Small Businesses

The Western Australian Government can activate special emergency financial assistance (known as the Premier's Natural Disaster Recovery Fund) to provide critical financial support to community members facing disruption and losses as they recover from significant natural disasters. The Premier has activated the fund in response to Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle and Associated Flooding.

Small businesses may be eligible for financial assistance.

The Premier’s Natural Disaster Recovery Fund provides financial assistance to small businesses affected by Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle and/or Associated Flooding. The payment is intended to contribute to the costs associated with restoring damaged property to enable the resumption or continuation of trading. It is intended for small businesses that:

• Has premises, material or property that was damaged by Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle and/or Associated Flooding and;
• Requires cleaning or immediate repairs to continue or resume trading, and / or;
• Needs to hire or replace equipment to continue or resume trading.

A payment from The Premier’s Natural Disaster Recovery Fund is comprised of the following:

• A one-off payment of $5,000 for eligible small businesses.

You can view the Premier’s Natural Disaster Recovery Fund Impacted Entities Guidelines for Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle and Associated Flooding here.

Applicants for the small business payment must demonstrate that the business that is the subject of the claim:

• Held a valid and active ABN at the time of the event.
• Was operating and located primarily within the Local Government Areas of Exmouth, Ashburton, Carnarvon, Shark Bay, Upper Gascoyne or Murchison during the time of the disaster.
• Has no more than 20 FTE employees.
• Provides a direct service to the local community.
• The place of business is not already the subject of an existing application for Impacted Entities for this disaster through the Fund.  

Only one application per premise will be considered.

Although the applicant may be a nominated business representative, WACOSS will also communicate with the senior leader of the business.

Please ensure you respond fully to all the questions and provide supporting documents. Not providing the correct documents or evidence can delay, or prevent, the processing of your application.

Make sure that you have the following information and/or documentary evidence to hand:

- The Australian Business Number (ABN) of the small business which is the subject of this application.

- Evidence of the number of full-time equivalent employees, such as a payroll.

- Evidence that the Business was operating at the time of the cyclone. Electronic copies of one of the following can be submitted:

• Business tax return statement.
• Business Activity Statement (BAS).
• Profit and loss statement, produced by an accountant or your accounting software such as MYOB or Xero.  
• A recent bank statement showing business transactions.

- The Business' bank details and a bank statement to verify them.

- If you are not the business' Senior Leader, you will be required to supply a letter of authority from the small business' Senior Leader and relevant contact details. A letter of authority template is provided within the FAQs.

- Photographs demonstrating the physical damage to the business premises or property caused by the disaster event.

Documents can be provided in PDF, JPG or PNG formats. Documents will not be accepted if they are redacted or in any way designed to mislead.

Please note that excel spreadsheets and hand-written ledgers are not accepted.

Make sure you save your application as you go. If you need to close the application and haven’t finished it yet, press 'save and close' and log out. When you log back in and click on the My Submissions link at the top of the screen, you will find a list of any applications you have started or submitted. You can reopen your draft application and start where you left off.

When you’re finished, press Review and Submit at the bottom of the navigation panel. Make sure you read your application carefully and ensure all your details and information are correct, because once you press Submit you cannot reopen your application. You will not be able to submit your application until all the compulsory questions are completed and there are no validation errors.

Click Submit at the top or bottom of the screen or on the navigation panel when you’re ready. You’ll then get an email confirmation with your final application attached. If you don’t get this email your application may not have been submitted. Please check your in-progress submissions and then contact WACOSS.

Select 'Next Page' to continue through your application form.