Sophie Mirabella (Indi, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on a very important area of policy—that is, natural disaster relief and recovery arrangements. It should be at times that are outside the urgent time of emergency when disaster is occurring across the nation that we should look at what is flawed in the programs that administer assistance to individuals who have suffered financially from natural disasters, whether they be floods or fires. What have particularly given rise to my address this evening are some anomalies that exist in the natural disaster relief and recovery arrangements as became apparent recently with the floods in my electorate in north-east Victoria. The anomalies are as follows.

In order for certain assistance measures such as clean-up grants to be given to primary producers and small businesses, they need to reside within a shire that is classified as a category C shire under the NDRRA arrangements—that is, if you have sustained the same financial or the same physical damage to your farm and you live across the shire boundary in a shire that has not been so classified as a category C then you are precluded from accessing the assistance. If we accept the basic premise that governments should provide relief and assistance to give those who have suffered nature's wrath a helping hand, if we have decided that is a right and proper thing for government to do, then we need to make sure that we get it right. There is a very real problem here, a problem of equity, where those who have suffered the same damage but live in the wrong shire, the wrong shire being a shire that has not been classified, get nothing. It should be based on actual damage, on facts, not just plain classifications.

To this end, I have written to the Attorney-General and the Premier of Victoria, urging them to review the natural disaster relief recovery arrangements so that we can ensure that victims of flood damage in the future will have equitable access to assistance, regardless of the local government area in which they reside or where their business is. I have received a response. I have also written to the Attorney-General separately with regard to a particular constituent of mine who suffered enormous damage due to floods and is still unable to access any assistance. To this letter I have not yet received a response.

I was heartened by the Attorney-General to the extent that she said, 'I will certainly keep the situation you describe in mind as an area that may warrant review, and I look forward to taking a bipartisan approach and working collaboratively with the states and territories on improving the arrangements.' I would have liked to have seen a more immediate commitment to an actual review. An acknowledgement that there are problems is a good start, but I am disappointed that the Attorney-General has not given an indication that the government will act immediately to fix what is so obviously a flaw. I was also disappointed in another part of her letter, where she effectively says that, even if a business has sustained damage outside a category C area, that does not stop the states from helping them. The disaster relief arrangements have always been a fifty-fifty arrangement between the Commonwealth and the states, and that is not a satisfactory response. On the issue of my individual constituent, I have yet to receive a response. It was Mr Buck who suffered serious damage to his property in South Wangaratta. It was the result of the same floods that occurred in the Indigo, Towong, Shepparton and Moira shires, but because the rural city of Wangaratta was not classified category C, Mr Buck is ineligible to apply for assistance. He has estimated that the damage to his property is approximately $50,000. As you would appreciate, insurance cover does not cover this type of damage. (Time expired)