Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

What the member for Chifley is trying to do is actually pull the government onside so that people who have lost thousands and thousands of dollars, who may not have any coverage from insurance companies, can get a payment with some dignity; people who slept on the floor of recreation centres, people who then had to turn around, go home and clean up their houses; people who may not have had their house burn down but still suffered significant losses. I think that the role of government is to support them.

The government's response initially in the Shortland electorate was good. But they have definitely failed the people of Shortland when it comes to emergency payments to help them cover the financial losses that they had at the time, to help them get on with their lives and to take up where they left off. It is not good enough that we get weasel words from the minister about why it cannot happen. What we should all be doing here in this parliament is saying that we want the best for our constituents. (Time expired)

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