Process to apply for Lord Mayor Distress Relief Fund help post-Seroja delayed by one week

The assessment of cyclone-related requests to the Lord Mayor’s Distress Relief Fund has been delayed by one week.

City of Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas was in Kalbarri last week to announce applications through the Tropical Cyclone Seroja Appeal would be open for acceptance on Monday, but the date has now been pushed back to May 31.

A City of Perth spokesperson said meetings held across the Mid West on Monday had revealed local governments were not yet equipped to help facilitate the application process.

“Upon meeting with and discussing circumstances it was noted that many of the local governments at the focus of the recovery, are at full capacity and would prefer that the application process was held back for one week,” they said.

“Application forms are being left with many of the Shires and people can start the application process from Monday.”

The spokesperson said money would be disbursed directly to those who need it.

They spokesperson said the assessment process normally takes six to eight weeks, but this process could be delayed if information provided in the application is incomplete.