Deputy PM slams criticism of bushfire recovery funding

04 February 2021

Published by https://tatimes.com.au/

AUSTRALIA – Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack has dismissed criticism of government bushfire recovery grants handed to the Snowy Valleys region, with the Riverina MP labelling comments made by Greens MLC David Shoebridge as ‘inflammatory grandstanding and pathetic tripe’.

The Deputy Prime Minister was defending the allocation of tens of millions of dollars handed to the Snowy Valleys businesses and the local council following the devastating Dunns Road bushfires last summer.

“The funding is being distributed to those communities which have been left devastated by last summer’s bushfires,” Mr McCormack said.

“Snowy Valleys Local Government Area (LGA) was one of the worst-hit regions in New South Wales with 47.9 per cent of the area affected.

He noted it is the National Bushfire Recovery Agency that administers the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund.

“Its top industry is forestry in which 55.8 per cent of the LGA’s bushland and forests was razed by fire. Agriculture suffered as well, with 37.6 per cent of its agricultural land burnt,” Mr McCormack said.

Mr Shoebridge had tweeted Saturday that: “We are chasing down a fresh pork barrel scandal. This time it’s the state and federal Coalition cooking up a $177 million pork barrel using bushfire relief funds. Less than 2% of the $$ went to opposition, Greens or SFF seats in the regions. Disgraceful.

“Almost 1/3rd of the bush fire relief funds was channeled into one state electorate, Wagga Wagga, which just happens to be slap bang in the middle of Nationals MP and Deputy PM Michael McCormack’s seat. $56 million went there and it was far from the most Fire impacted part of NSW.”

Mr McCormack said Mr Shoebridge’s comments were inaccurate.

“Not only does the Snowy Valleys LGA fall outside the Federal seat of Riverina, it is in the Labor-held Federal seat of Eden-Monaro and Independent-held State seat of Wagga Wagga,” he said.

“Mr Shoebridge’s inflammatory grandstanding is a cheap political stunt at the expense of the real lives and livelihoods of regional Australians who deserve an apology for his incredibly misleading comments.

I challenge Mr Shoebridge to get out of his concrete jungle utopia and visit the Snowy Valleys LGA to look residents and business owners in the eye and tell them why they don’t deserve this economic support to help them build back from such a terrible disaster

“I challenge Mr Shoebridge to get out of his concrete jungle utopia and visit the Snowy Valleys LGA to look residents and business owners in the eye and tell them why they don’t deserve this economic support to help them build back from such a terrible disaster.

“This is the typical pathetic tripe I have come to expect from the Greens. It smacks of arrogant, inner-city privilege with a complete lack of regard for hard-working regional Australians who have suffered enough through the drought, bushfire and COVID-19 crises.”

Greens MLC David Shoebridge has stood by his comments that bushfire funding awarded to the state electorate of Wagga Wagga is linked to Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack’s federal seat of Riverina, despite all of the funds being given to businesses within Labor’s federal seat of Eden-Monaro.

Despite admitting that “on closer analysis it appears the majority of that funding in Wagga was actually in Eden-Monaro”, Mr Shoebridge maintains that the awarding of the funding was politically based, not on merit.

Mr McCormack has called the Greens MLC’s comments “inaccurate”, telling The Times, “Mr Shoebridge’s inflammatory grandstanding is a cheap political stunt at the expense of the real lives and livelihoods of regional Australians”.

On Tuesday it was announced that a state government inquiry examining ‘pork-barrelling’ claims around NSW government grant programs, such as the Stronger Communities Fund, will be expanded to include bushfire grant funding allocated in response to the Black Summer bushfires.

Roughly $45 million of the $177 million Bushfire Local Economic Recovery (BLER) Fund was allocated to businesses and infrastructure within the Snowy Valleys Council area.

Around $43 million was given to the state seat of Wagga Wagga, led by Independent Dr Joe McGirr, with the remaining $2 million awarded to the Liberal seat of Albury.

When asked why the funding awarded to Wagga Wagga is being linked to Mr McCormack – despite all the money residing within Labor’s Eden-Monaro portion of the electorate – Mr Shoebridge said, “There’s no question that the majority of the state seat of Wagga is in Michael McCormack’s electorate.”

“It is true, and I accept that the bulk of these multi-million-dollar grants being between one third and a quarter of all the funds provided actually went to the highly marginal seat of Eden-Monaro,” he continued.

“That does not change the highly politicised nature of the funding, nor does it explain how between a quarter and a third of all the funds for a state-wide program went to just one state electorate.”

Mr Shoebridge suggested that the Coalition “clearly wants to win back [Eden-Monaro] at the next federal election”, and in his view there is “no evidence of a state-wide, merit-based assessment, none whatsoever.”

“For me I cannot see the rationale under which a large multi-million-dollar corporation received $10 million dollars for bushfire assistance when there are individual homeowners, small business owners, who are in such desperate need,” Mr Shoebridge said.

“I cannot understand the basis on which that decision was made.”

Wagga Wagga MP Joe McGirr previously said that any suggestions his region didn’t deserve the bushfire funding it was awarded were “offensive.”

Mr Shoebridge said he is most concerned about “the lack of transparency regarding how these projects were identified” and funded, using $177 million of public money, with “no guidelines” or public announcements.

In terms of the fire impact on the Wagga electorate, Mr Shoebridge said, “Nobody’s questioning the very real fire impact that happened at Wagga, they were real and the impacts are continuing, but how can you possibly explain not a single dollar going into the electorate of the Blue Mountains, hit by two mega fires.”

“It appears the only explanation is the fact that the electorate of the Blue Mountains is represented by non-Coalition members,” he continued.