Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

ALLAGHER (—) (): I thank Senator Thorpe for the question about Youpla and the situation that thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families were left in the lurch when the funeral insurance scheme collapsed. We have been working through all the issues around providing support to those that have been affected. As at 17 March 2023 the program has received 220 applications, with 186 of these being approved, and the program has paid out $1.5 million in grants to 170 recipients to support First Nations families in conducting sorry business.

There are a small number of applications currently being processed or awaiting payment. The average processing time for an application from lodgement to payment is about six weeks. They are taking six weeks on average as we are dealing with a company that has collapsed and there are significant record-keeping issues. I would say to Senator Thorpe that we are working as fast as we can. We recognise the awful situation many people have found themselves in with the collapse of Youpla, and we are trying to work as hard as we can to make sure that we can resolve it for all of those that have been placed in this terrible position by the failure of this business.