Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the minister representing the Minister for Government Services, Senator Ruston. Ms Rae Harvey lost her home in the bushfires and has been living on her property with no running water, electricity or internet. She has applied for the disaster relief payment twice and has been rejected twice because she couldn't provide the bank account details for a government payment from 25 years ago. Why is the government burdening bushfire victims with bureaucracy?

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Keneally for her question. Obviously, we have been through a particularly devastating time over recent months with the bushfires and the impact that it's had on the communities that have been absolutely devastated. Part of the response from the federal government—an unprecedented response, I might add—for the kind of natural disaster that we have seen over recent months has been to make sure that we are quickly able to respond to people who are in need.

Obviously, as the senator would be well aware, I'm not in a position to comment on individual cases but, as I have always said in this place, if there is ever a particular situation or an individual case where they would like the matter taken up, I'm more than happy to take that matter up and I'm also more than happy to make sure that the minister responsible for government services is also made aware of it. However, this is not the forum in which we should be debating individual cases. But I would say that the response that we have seen to the devastating impacts of the bushfires by Services Australia, through the Australian government disaster recovery fund, has been unprecedented. We have seen hundreds of millions of dollars made available to people who are in need. In my own portfolio area, as an example, we made $50 million available for emergency relief so that we could get money immediately to people who may have needed some—may have needed accommodation, may have needed to get clothing, to get food.

Subsequent to this response, the time of the response, the ability for the payments to be able to be made quickly has been something that has been acknowledged by the broader bushfire community. Of course, there will always be situations where sometimes things are not as perfect as we would like and that is why we always come into this place and say, 'If you have a particular situation you would like us to deal with, we're more than happy to do so.' But hundreds of thousands of Australians who have been impacted by the bushfires have received a timely response from this government.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Keneally, a supplementary question.

Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mayor of Bega, Kristy McBain, raised concerns that it was difficult for bushfire victims to get help, saying:

Some people just want to get on and help themselves and that becomes difficult when there's always a form to fill out, a process to go through, a number to ring, a meeting to attend—so I think that definitely adds to the frustration.

Does the minister agree with the mayor's assessment?

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for her follow-up question. As the senator would understand, there is always a process that needs to go through before taxpayers' funds are made available to people. One of the things we did as a government after these unprecedented bushfires was to make sure we made that as easy as possible. But to come into this place and suggest that you don't have to go through any process at all; you can turn up and ask for money is—

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

However, I would say—

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sports rorts is easy; bushfire help isn't—

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order on my left.

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

one of the things that we have received a great amount of commendation for is the fact that people who rang the number, the 18002266 number, were having their calls answered on average in under one minute, and people were not being made to wait. Sometimes people got off their phone and looked at their bank accounts and the money had already been paid into their accounts. I would say the system is obviously working when the majority of people are receiving their money the same day.

Senator Keneally interjecting—

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order. Senator Keneally, a final supplementary question.

Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When questioned about the difficulty of accessing payments, Minister Stuart Robert claimed, 'The speed at which we're operating now is unseen in a disaster in this country.' Is boasting about the government's speedy response the best that Minister Robert can offer people like Ms Harvey and Mayor McBain?

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think I would probably refer to my answer in the previous question. The fact is the responses have been very quick. People who have been ringing the number that I just gave have been getting immediate responses and they are having the money paid into their bank accounts almost immediately. In fact, in most instances, within a matter of hours, someone who has applied for the Australian government disaster recovery payment has received it. We also note that we made the decision to increase the amount of money that was made available to children in the lead-up to going back to school. So instead of it being $1,000 for adults and $400 for children, an additional $400 was made available so that children returning to school at the end of January would have the assistance to buy the things they needed. So I'm quite happy to take the individual cases you refer to and see if there has been a problem. But in general, I think you will find that the majority of Australians impacted by these bushfires have been very happy and grateful for the response by this government.