Vol. No. Vol. 2618No. 3427
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Wednesday, January 2016 Wednesday, March13, 6, 2024 FUN FOR EVERYONE: Imara Petschel meets Sandy Creek Clydesdale horses, Brooke and Noah, at the first day of the 2024 Wimmera Machinery Field Days. Today is the event’s family day, and organisers expect to see plenty of people enjoying a brimming site as they celebrate 60 years of the field days. Story, page 3. More pictures, page 33. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER
Fire funding lag T
BY LAUREN HENRY
he region’s National Party Members of Parliament have called on both state and federal governments to show urgency in unlocking funding for fire-affected farmers and small businesses.
Member for Mallee Anne Webster and Member for Lowan Emma Kealy have asked both levels of government to ‘hurry up’ and allocate funding for farmers affected by the bushfires in Dadswells Bridge and Pomonal areas last month. Up to 200 head of stock and hundreds of kilometres of fencing were destroyed in the Dadswells Bridge fire, with stock and fencing loss assessments at Pomonal still being finalised.
The two Grampians National Park bushfires remain under control with fire crews monitoring conditions. The MPs’ calls come after other politicians levelled criticism at the jointly-funded Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, which require a threshold of the number of farmers affected by a disaster in order to trigger funding. State Member for Gippsland South Danny O’Brien raised the issue with Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes last month after farmers in Gippsland waited months for government assistance following flooding in December. He also campaigned Agriculture Minister Ros Spence following storm damage to Mirboo North farmers last month.
While Dr Webster welcomed Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt’s decision late on Friday to open grants of $1000 per adult and $400 per child to Dadswells Bridge fire victims, it came almost two weeks after Pomonal residents were eligible, despite both fires occurring on February 13. About 60 disaster payment claims, totalling $62,000, have been paid to eligible people living at Pomonal. Dr Webster said the delay for Dadswells Bridge victims to be eligible for the grants was due to bureaucracy. “My view is if your house burns down, your house burns down – it doesn’t matter if there are 44 burnt houses around you,” she said. “It’s got to be large enough – that was the discrepancy, that the damage
at Dadswells Bridge was not as extensive as Pomonal. But my argument is there is a problem with the arithmetic if that is what it takes – it needs to be where the disaster has occurred, regardless of whether it wipes out a region or not, the funding should be there.” Dr Webster called on grants for victims of any disaster to be more streamlined within departments at both levels of government. “The Coalition government established the Royal Commission that recommended forming the National Emergency Management Agency, and through that agency, past arrangements have included funding for small and medium Business Recovery Grant Programs and Primary Producer Grants Programs,” she said.
“These provided as much as $75,000 to clean up debris, remove or dispose of infrastructure, recover stock, conduct safety inspections, restore fencing and more. “What I find most concerning at this stage in the recovery process is that even after a Royal Commission, levels of government seem to be bogged in bureaucracy wondering if they should do something to help victims.” Dr Webster said fire-affected residents had rang her in tears wondering why they had not received the help other victims received. “Victims of disaster need to get back on their feet, back in business and living with hope for their futures,” she said. Continued page 3
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