Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Since the bushfires in my electorate on the New South Wales South Coast we have seen many things from this government. We've seen endless flashy announcements with no substance. We've seen promise after promise on clean-up funding support and more promises broken. The latest example is the government's supposedly new Bushfire Community Recovery and Resilience Fund, announced just this month. It turns out it's a rebadged version of the Local Economic Recovery and Complementary Projects Fund announced five months ago but now with the goalposts changed and no money hitting the ground until at least next year. I suppose it shouldn't come as a surprise that the government has chosen to delay the release of the bushfire royal commission's final report. They received it yesterday but they won't release it until Friday. Why? In our community we still have people waiting for the clean-up the government promised. We have dozens of families concerned about what will happen when their temporary accommodation runs out in December. We have community groups who want to prepare for the bushfire season that is already upon us. And we have mental health programs through the Shoalhaven Women's Health Centre that are at risk of closure. Our community cannot afford to wait. We deserve better.

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