On average, DTP and ERV took 214 days to process claims from regional councils and 118 days to process certified estimates from regional councils.

Claims spent the most time waiting for assessments to start and waiting for missing information.

Processing times decreased substantially as DTP increased its assessor pool and improved its processes.

Covered in this section:

As of April 2025, ERV has approved $77.9 million in claims and $66.4 million in certified estimates from regional councils for the October 2022 floods under the national DRFA. 

Councils received $73.7 million in early financial assistance from the Natural Disaster Relief Trust Account, with first payments issued in January 2023. 

The Treasurer approved $823.5 million in Victorian Government department requests for Treasurer's Advances for flood relief and recovery within 2 weeks of submission. Departments had spent this funding within 8 months.

The Resource Management Framework helps departments apply the policies, processes and legislative requirements around using public funds. But DTF did not ensure compliance with all the Framework requirements for urgent and unforeseen claims. 

We made 4 recommendations to address our findings. The relevant agencies have accepted the recommendations in full or in principle. 

What we examined

Our audit followed one line of inquiry: 

• Did disaster funding arrangements ensure relief and recovery assistance reached communities impacted by the October 2022 floods in a timely way?

To answer this question, we examined:

Download a PDF copy of Appendix C: Audit scope and method.

Download a PDF copy of Appendix B: Abbreviations, acronyms and glossary.

Download a PDF copy of Appendix A: Submissions and comments.

Departments we examined did not actively assess how savings affected either frontline or back-office services. 

Departments’ existing performance measures do not track savings' impacts and do not consistently measure all outputs across all business areas. 

Without targeted metrics or specific monitoring, departments cannot show if savings affected service delivery.

Covered in this section:

All departments told us that they delivered their 2023–24 DER savings targets, but only DEECA tracks implementation at the initiative level.

Other departments monitored progress against their overall budgets, which include a mix of savings and other funding decisions.

This means they could not easily show if they delivered the specific initiatives approved in their DER implementation plans.

Covered in this section: