Jim Molan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to address the matter of public importance submitted, I think, in the name of Senator Walsh—Senator Ayres has now spoken on it—which claims, as to bushfire victims who were promised immediate support, 'months later only four per cent have received any help'. The ALP are politicising bushfire recovery in an apparent attempt to score cheap political points, with the Eden-Monaro by-election in full swing, and that is patently obvious.

Senator Walsh—and possibly Senator Ayres—has not once requested a briefing from the National Bushfire Recovery Agency. If Senator Walsh were truly concerned with the plight of bushfire victims, one would have thought that the senator might have requested a briefing on the work of the National Bushfire Recovery Agency. That agency and government have worked to be as transparent as possible with the opposition and members of the crossbench. And it's not just Senator Walsh. The National Bushfire Recovery Agency has given a whole-of-opposition-shadow-cabinet briefing. It has given one-on-one briefings to Senator Murray Watt and also Catherine King MP, Fiona Phillips MP and Susan Templeman MP and, by my count, 16 other briefings. So for the Labor Party to say that it's going to hold us to account in this house is a travesty. If you're going to hold anyone to account, start by understanding the facts and understanding what's going on.

Additionally, the National Bushfire Recovery Agency sent an email to all opposition and crossbench members in bushfire affected electorates, in May 2020, asking them to advise if they wished to participate in a virtual briefing on bushfire recovery, and not one member of the opposition or the Greens even responded. If the ALP and the Greens were truly concerned about bushfire recovery, one would think all impacted MPs and senators would have taken the opportunity to receive a briefing, and not one did. Instead of working constructively with the government to support bushfire victims, the opposition are taking advantage of the government's effort to keep them informed of their constituents' recovery, and they should be linking in with us on every possible opportunity.

What about this four per cent figure? Senator Ayres didn't mention the four per cent figure. I suspect it's because he is so deeply embarrassed about it. The Labor Party figure of only four per cent of those impacted by the bushfires as having received assistance is just fantasy. I can only surmise that this figure is a form of calculation derived by taking the entire population of the local government areas that had fires occur in them and cross-referencing that with the number of people who have been supported by Australian governments. And just because it's in some publication, Senator Watt, doesn't mean it's correct. At best, this is poor understanding of the reality of the situation. At worst, it is a mischievous and an irresponsible use of arithmetic to politicise the plight of bushfire victims.

While approximately 7.1 million people live in local government areas that have been activated for bushfire recovery assistance, clearly not all of these were impacted in the same way or, indeed, at all. Some of these local government areas include large, heavily populated areas. A smaller proportion of Australians were resident within the burn scar and were directly impacted through the loss of loved ones and property. For instance, if we were to take the figure being used by the ALP, one would assume that the entire Gold Coast was directly impacted by flame, and that is ridiculous. The ALP are putting those in high-rises who were untouched on a par with those whose properties in our rural and regional areas were destroyed, and that's bizarre. Another proportion were also indirectly impacted in a severe way through loss of income, trade and crops. The most meaningful measure of the number of Australians that were directly and indirectly impacted is through the take-up of support measures being delivered by all levels of government, which continues to rise.

I want to make a number of additional points and then get down to some real facts. Firstly, the government's policy is about helping Australians recover from the recent bushfires—and that is a national priority, despite the impact of COVID. Just as we do not forget the scourge of drought or the scourge of flood, we are working and will continue to work on providing support to those impacted by the bushfires. Secondly, to get the money out fast, the Commonwealth uses state and territory governments and local councils to deliver the programs. Thirdly, we have enlisted charities to distribute a proportion of the funds as emergency relief, which is managed separately to public donations. Generally, this has worked, but where it has been less than perfect, where systems and processes can be better, the National Bushfire Recovery Agency is working with partners to make improvements.

Two billion dollars has been allocated to the national bushfire recovery fund, and the Prime Minister has said that more is available if required. Funding is being rolled out over a two-year period. At mid-May, half of that money had been distributed. So, when you add in the $417 million more that has been allocated through disaster recovery payments and disaster recovery allowances, you find that over this period $1.4 billion is out there working for the victims of bushfires. The reason it's rolled out over two years is so people in the community can think about their recovery needs and seek support at their own pace. Let me remind you that, in a two-year $2 billion program, we have spent $1.4 billion. I've sat with fire victims at evacuation centres, with smoke in the air, when they were assisted by officials to apply for and receive the bushfire recovery payment and the allowance. On occasions, approval has been given on the phone and money has been within their account within 30 minutes—and often much faster.

Let me speak about what we have actually done in Eden-Monaro—as the Labor Party raised Eden-Monaro. In the five local government areas included in the Eden-Monaro electorate, 502 primary producer grants have been approved, providing almost $32.4 million in support. There have been 130 concessional loans approved, providing over $7.6 million on the ground. There have been 4,429 small business support grants of $10,000 in Eden-Monaro, amounting to over $44.2 million in support. There have been 601 small business grants of $50,000 approved, amounting to over $16.7 million, and over $37 million in Commonwealth payments have been made to individuals under the disaster recovery payment and the disaster recovery allowance.

There will always be people who fall between the cracks. But everyone who has been brought to my attention has been dealt with; they've received aid from the federal level, from the state level or from charities. We can always do it better, but the accusation of four per cent is plain mischievous. Despite the fires coming on top of the drought and being followed by COVID, and despite the fact that individuals may slip through the cracks, the government and its agencies have effectively supported the victims of bushfires across this nation and will continue to do so.