Raff Ciccone (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] I'd like to take this opportunity to speak on the current situation in East Gippsland regarding the lack of federal government financial support provided to rebuild crucial infrastructure in these communities, 18 months after the region was ravaged by fires back in the year 2020.As reported in the Herald Sun today, just $4.5 million has been set aside for East Gippsland in the first year of the $276 million three-year grant program to support local projects in bushfire-hit communities. Despite East Gippsland being particularly badly affected—with 1.1 million hectares burnt, or more than half the local government area, including 410 homes that were destroyed—it received only a fraction of the $27 million that has currently been made available. This distribution of funds, which were allocated by local government area rather than on a more equitable needs basis, means that many, many people in East Gippsland are going without the assistance that they desperately need and deserve.

It beggars belief that the federal Liberal and National government could continue to drag its feet as these communities cry out for help. Programs designed to help small businesses get back on their feet have been painfully slow to roll out money from the $2 billion Bushfire Recovery Fund. While it's clear that Australians in bushfire affected regions want and need this money, the question needs to be asked: why isn't the Morrison government listening to the needs of East Gippsland residents? This is an insult to hardworking Australians who just want what they were promised by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister must explain why, after he and his ministers announced the package as part of the bushfire package back in 2020, they have failed to actively provide funding to these projects on the ground.

It has now been more than 18 months since the bushfire crisis, and those in East Gippsland are rightly angry at the delays in repairing infrastructure in their communities. While I acknowledge that there are many challenges facing recovery, residents in these regions are experiencing ongoing issues which are being made worse by outdated grant rules based on council areas. In fact, it's been so inadequate that local elected representatives from all levels of government, including representatives from the National Party, have written to the Prime Minister expressing concerns about the simplistic local-government-area criteria that are used to determine funding and about the considerable unmet demand for federal government assistance in the area.

Like the local Nationals federal member, Darren Chester, I am bitterly disappointed with the lack of support from the coalition for the people of East Gippsland. I would like also to echo the comments made by Councillor Urie, the mayor of East Gippsland shire, that the $4.5 million allocated is unacceptable, and by local Nationals state MP Tim Bull, who has acknowledged that the Commonwealth has made a clear mistake in its allocation of funding and needs to increase its support for East Gippsland. I urge the minister responsible, Senator McKenzie, the Minister for Emergency Management and National Recovery and Resilience, to acknowledge the current shortcomings of the program and work urgently towards delivering much-needed support for these communities. These communities deserve support from the government in their time of need to give them a hand up and allow them to get back on their feet.