The powerful body set up to oversee Queensland's flood recovery is taking too long to approve funding applications, Brisbane City Council says.
Deputy Mayor Adrian Schrinner yesterday slammed the Queensland Reconstruction Authority, saying the process was “red tape heavy” and required “massive amounts of paperwork”.
And he told a council meeting the authority had so far approved just one of Brisbane City Council's 100 applications for funding.
But the state government-created body last night hit back at the criticism, saying the council had already received a $54 million advance and was receiving funding quicker than it would have under past processes.
It is understood more Brisbane City Council funding requests were given the green light yesterday, bringing the total number of approvals to 20.
“The authority is processing submissions from BCC in batches with multiple claims per submission and up to 1000 line items per claim requiring verification,” said the authority's chairman, Major General Mick Slater.
“The authority is in constant contact with BCC officers regarding claims and to clarify issues arising from incomplete or ineligible items.”
Cr Schrinner went on the attack after the Labor council opposition disputed the Liberal National Party administration's claims that the state and federal governments would not cover all of Brisbane's $440 million recovery bill.
Cr Schrinner rejected accusations the council had been sluggish to lodge funding applications.
He said the council had started submitting grant requests since February and had so far made more than 100 such claims, but only one had been approved.
“We are not getting the feedback and quick feedback that we would expect from the Queensland Reconstruction Authority,” Cr Schrinner told the council meeting.
“Eleven weeks to process one application is not acceptable.”
Cr Schrinner later told reporters the applications lodged so far were for a total of about $25 million to $28 million, but the only approved grant application was $250,000 for sandbags.
But the authority says more than 20 Brisbane City Council applications have now been approved.
Major General Slater said the authority's progress-payments method meant councils were paid an advance and were “getting initial funding support faster than ever before”.
“This red-tape reduction is in contrast to past processes that meant it could have taken from 18 months to two years,” he said in a written response.
Major General Slater said the authority was processing applications from all 73 disaster-impacted councils, not just the state's biggest, under scrutiny from the federal government's inspectorate.
“Brisbane has already received an advance of $54 million – this is more than 10 per cent of the $411 million advance paid to councils thus far,” he said.
“There is nothing stopping councils, with the size and capacity of BCC, from getting on with reconstruction works, without QRA approval, provided that they are confident that the works are [Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements] eligible.”
Authority members are expected to meet with council officers this week to talk to them about the application process.
This reporter is on Twitter: @danielhurstbne
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