Gary's Speeches

Bushfire - Victim Support

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"Today's matter of public importance on bushfire recovery is extremely timely. We are now three months out from the fires of 7 February, and all the issues that we have to deal with have pretty much come to the fore, but I am sure that over the next 12 months there will be many more issues we will have to acknowledge and deal with. "

"I want to put on the record my appreciation of and my concern and support for all our parliamentary colleagues who have an electorate that has been hit very hard by these fires, particularly those electorates that have suffered terrible loss of life. I put on the record my support for the members for Yan Yean, Seymour, Morwell and Gippsland South. I have had a bit of a taste of what it was like for them. We were lucky at the Bunyip Ridge fire that no lives were lost, but all the members I have mentioned are serving areas that have suffered terrible loss of life, and once again my thoughts go out to them. It is incumbent on us as members of this Parliament to make sure we support our fellow members as best we can. "

The cold weather has set in, the rain has started to fall and the mud will now start getting deeper. The climate for deepening depression is upon us. The government response in the form of grant announcements made by the federal and state governments almost on a weekly basis gave the victims of the Bunyip Ridge fire an initial sense of hope. However, now we are seeing that hope turn to anger and despair as applications become bogged down in red tape -- too many forms to fill out, repetitive requests for the same information, constant demands for proof that the applicant's situation is genuine, statutory declarations for every grant application and referrals to financial advisers -- which ends up causing time-wasting delays. All this is adding enormous stress to already depressed and now traumatised families and individuals. "

"I applaud the government for many of the initiatives it has announced, but I am very critical of the actual announcements taking priority over the development of processes to deliver the grants being offered to victims. "

"Surely it would make much more sense to ensure that a mechanism for the delivery of all these grant programs has been developed and is in place before the announcements and subsequent media releases are publicised. My office has been inundated with frustrated and angry genuine fire victims. Their case managers are also finding it just as frustrating and difficult. If their clients are able to tick only 9 of the 10 boxes on a grant application, they are immediately knocked back. There is a lack of compassion and flexibility in this process. The problem may be that our agencies are trying very hard to deliver assistance as quickly as possible and in doing so are taking a broadbased, one-cap-fits-all approach to assessment of applications. "

"What I have discovered with many victims is that often they have a fairly unique set of personal circumstances and therefore need to be assessed on an individual and more personal basis. "

"A good example of this is Jessica Grayden and her brother, Hew, who lost everything in the fires on their 20-acre family farm -- house, sheds, fencing and pasture. Jess is 23. She is the sole carer for her 21-year-old brother, who has Down syndrome. Jess and Hew have lost both parents to cancer -- their mum in 2001 and their dad in 2006. When the fires struck the property was still in their father's business company name and the process for the transfer of ownership to Jess and Hew had almost been finalised by their solicitor. "

"Under the current rules Jess and Hew will not be able to access the $50 000 from the bushfire appeal fund because the home was not in their name. That is an example of the rigid inflexibility of the process which has been put in place by the government and which is being administered by the Department of Human Services -- and it is causing enormous stress and heartache for those already doing it really tough. "

"However, I do not intend to give up on this one, and I will do everything possible to get for Jess and Hew everything they are entitled to. "

"Another example is the situation that Sandra Firth-Williamson is trying to deal with. Sandra is a 67-year-old widow. She came to my office and was in tears as she explained the run-arounds and knock-backs she was getting in trying to access the grants she believed Mr Brumby had promised her. After the fires all she had left of everything she had acquired over her 67 years of life were two small cardboard boxes of personal possessions. Sandra had tried to access the temporary living expenses grant, but because she was living with a friend she was deemed ineligible. Certainly she is not wearing the cost of temporary accommodation, but I believe she is entitled to other living expenses such as food, clothing, personal items, essential household items and so on. "

"Another element of frustration has been caused by the long delays in getting Grocon to our area to start the clean-up. Many house and shed sites are still waiting to be cleared, and clearing has just been started on some. I understand it is a huge task across all fire-devastated areas, but part of the reason for the delay could be that the conditions of engagement Grocon has put on local contractors have been so tough that most are not interested in the work and the few that are have not been engaged. I have been told that all the contractors now working in our area are from out of town. "

"It is very depressing for people still living on site in temporary accommodation to have to walk out their door every morning and be confronted with the shocking reminder that all that is left of many years of hard work is a tangled mass of twisted iron, concrete and bricks. That is not a great way to start your day at any time, let alone when you are trying to come to terms with the enormity of your loss and stay in a positive frame of mind. "

"Gina and Warwick Harris of Jindivick are typical of many in this situation. They thought they were fortunate to save their home from the fireball, but they witnessed their business, their livelihood, going up in smoke. Their sheds, tools and stock worth hundreds of thousands of dollars were lost. They cannot restart their business until they rebuild, retool and restock. They have waited over two months for the promised government clean-up, and every morning for three months they have had to confront the twisted mass of misery at their back door. Then, to add insult to injury, their insurance company has played hardball with a policy they had for loss of income through interruption to business. The Insurance Council of Australia is helping with that. "

"I must say that the insurance council has been fantastic in assisting many fire victims with insurance problems and in most cases has been able to achieve a very quick and successful outcome. Unfortunately the promise by the Prime Minister and the Premier to stand beside fire victims and help them rebuild their homes and livelihoods brick by brick appears to many at this stage to be a commitment that may never be delivered. "

"I know this is a very negative account of some aspects of the bushfire recovery in my area. "

"However, it is critically important that I take this opportunity to put before the Parliament the concerns our bushfire victims have and the problems they are currently having to live with. Most of the extremely generous donors to the Red Cross appeal believe that all bushfire victims are getting all the help they need based on the Premier's announcements and media releases. For the victims of the Bunyip Ridge fire this is just not happening. In highlighting these gaps in the delivery of assistance to the victims I plead with the government to act immediately to cut the red tape and get things moving. "

"The problems being faced by farmers in the Labertouche, Jindivick and Drouin West areas are another example of the urgency of the situation being faced by many businesses. There has been little or no financial help given to farmers to replace boundary fencing. Without fencing, farmers have no chance of resurrecting their businesses. "

"Most have had to borrow to buy materials and, thanks to the hundreds of volunteers, most have been able to rebuild their boundary fences. But the government must come to the party on this cost, especially for those who share a boundary fence with a government agency. A recommendation of the 2006 bushfire inquiry was for state government to become a good neighbour and share the cost of fencing on its boundaries, just as any normal neighbour has to do. "

"There have also been many positives in the recovery effort to date. The huge army of volunteers has been untiring in its provision of labour, emotional support and generous donations of much-needed essential materials. The Baw Baw shire management, staff and councillors have done a magnificent job, ranging from the setting up of the municipal emergency response right through to dealing with a whole range of issues. The Victorian Farmers Federation, with its coordination of donated hay and fencing volunteers, has been tremendous. "

"Four-wheel drive clubs, service clubs and individuals -- especially those who continue to man the drop-in centre at the Labertouche hall -- have all played a critical role in helping victims on the road to recovery. "

"Regional ABC radio in Sale did a fantastic job during the fires, and now it is keeping in touch with all those who are still suffering because of the issues they are dealing with as a result of the fires. It is giving people support and trying to give them hope. "

"Over the next 12 months it will be important that we stay in touch with all the people impacted by the events of Black Saturday. "

"I urge the state government to have an urgent review of all grant programs, to talk to the case managers and to implement improvements to the assessment of applications for grants and the delivery of grants to ensure that genuine fire victims are able to access all they have been promised by state and federal governments in a much shorter and less frustrating time frame than is currently the case. The state and federal governments must revisit the issues that our farmers are facing and also find ways to assist those businesses that are suffering a drastic drop in activity because of the fires. "