Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Feeney—I know you have taken, as a Victorian senator, a keen interest in this issue. Today, of course, the royal commission into the Victorian bushfires will be tabled in the Victorian parliament. It is not appropriate for me to comment on that particular aspect of the Victorian fires, but what I can report to the Senate is that the government has been able to provide additional help to victims of these terrible fires. The additional assistance that has been announced today is by way of removing and clearing some legal obstacles to the wider distribution of the generous donations made by the public, which total a remarkable sum of some $370 million. The Parliamentary Secretary for Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction, Mr Bill Shorten, and I have today announced amendments to the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to allow the Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund to conduct a significantly broader range of charitable and community activities. The changes will be retrospective from 19 January this year, when the first fires commenced at Delburn.

In summary, the measures will allow the fund to: provide for long-term assistance to orphaned minors, under the age of 18, without the need for annual assessments; provide reimbursements to individuals or organisations for performed eligible charitable activities; provide a discretionary payment of up to $15,000 to assist households for the period in which they are in transitional housing; provide a grant of up to $10,000 to affected primary producers to use for repair and restoration of farm activities, including re-fencing of properties; and establish what is called a ‘look-through provision’ so, if a family has a farm in a trust or company, they will also be eligible for assistance. (Time expired)