Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Abetz. When and why did the government impose new and restrictive criteria on Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payments than applied under the Labor government—that removed support to residents who will be unable to return to their principal place of residence or access their residence for 24 hours or are without utilities for 48 hours?

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It will not come as a surprise to most senators that the assertion made by Senator Cameron is in fact incorrect. Indeed, Labor used the same eligibility criteria that we have put in place on five occasions whilst they were in government. Firstly, January 2008, storms and flooding in the Mackay and Whitsunday regions; February 2008, flooding in Mackay; November 2008, storms in South-East Queensland; May 2009, storms and flooding in South-East Queensland and northern regions of New South Wales; March 2010, storms in Victoria.

I trust you have the decency not to keep on peddling this misinformation, and I trust there will not be any supplementary questions to keep on with this misinformation and mischief.

Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Why should Glenn Jackson, a self-employed electrician from Springwood, his wife and three children, be denied federal government disaster relief support when they were forced to leave their home for three days as a result of the Blue Mountains bushfire at significant cost to the family?

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mentioning individual cases is always fraught with difficulty, as Senator Cameron ought well know. Indeed, we could ask exactly the same question of all those people that were confronted with exactly the same situation in exactly the same scenario in relation to the January 2008 storms and flooding in the Mackay and Whitsunday regions; or the individuals that were confronted with the February 2008 flooding in Mackay or the November 2008 storms in South-East Queensland, or the May 2009 storms and flooding in South-East Queensland, or the storms in March 2010 in Victoria.

What we have is one of the most infantile examples of Labor doing something is good, coalition doing something is bad by definition. I would have thought these matters would be above this sort of tawdry politics. (Time expired)

Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Why are Blue Mountains residents being treated less favourably by the Abbott government than the way bushfire victims in Victoria and Tasmania were treated under the Labor government?

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Repeating misinformation time and time again does not make it true. Senator Cameron can seek to continue to peddle this misinformation but, at the end of the day, the reality is that the five examples that I have raised are very, very clear. What the senator opposite should accept is that, in general terms, we in Australia actually raise ourselves above the political debate when we are dealing with natural disasters. It is a sad reflection on the opposition and this new frontbencher, who is trying to make a name for himself by engaging in this tawdry activity.