Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In my travels throughout the Paterson electorate, I constantly meet residents who work extremely hard for others to make our community a much better place. These unsung heroes, who do such amazing and inspirational work, generally do not seek reward or recognition for their efforts. It is particularly timely to responsibly recognise their efforts. It is in this light that I call on my constituents to nominate individuals within our community who they feel have been inspirational or deserve recognition for the Paterson Citizen of the Year Awards. This will be an opportunity to praise the achievements and the services of so many amazing individuals and groups who we encounter in our daily lives. There are seven categories for nomination: there is the Citizen of the Year for 18- to 65-year-olds; Senior Citizen of the Year for those aged 65-plus; Young Citizen of the Year for those aged 18 years and under; the Community Organisation of the Year, the Corporate Citizen of the Year, Sports Achiever of the Year for those aged 18-plus, and Young Sports Achiever of the Year for those aged 18 years and under. I will be honouring these citizens personally at the Paterson Citizen of the Year Awards later this year accompanied by a very special guest.

There are heroes and there are villains in the community in which we live. I was discouraged to hear that there are allegations of rorting of the disaster recovery payments following the April storms in my region that impacted so many people. These disaster recovery payments schemes were designed to help those who have been hit hard by the storms and the floods, to provide them with some financial assistance and to help them get back on their feet. The government proposed to do this through offering $1,000 per adult and $400 per child payments to those directly impacted. Out of the 54,000 claims that have been made—and paid for—for this one-off disaster recovery payment, I was deeply troubled to hear that some 450 claims have been identified for further examination as potential fraud. Although the vast majority of people in receipt of these payments are genuine and honest, it is still open to exploitation, with a number of people potentially obtaining payments to which they are not properly entitled. It is a priority of government to ensure that the people impacted by this storm receive the necessary assistance as soon as possible. What makes this situation difficult is when people are falsely claiming entitlements.

I am also pleased to report to my primary producers in the electorate of Paterson, and indeed throughout the Hunter region, that, after much lobbying, the state government has now lodged its application for Category C assistance with the federal government. I understand this is being processed as quickly as possible.