Nationals Member for Euroa Annabelle Cleeland MP has referred more than $420 million in Victorian bushfire recovery funding to the Victorian Auditor-General, following claims the money has propped up state government programs outside the fire-affected region.
Nine months on from Victoria’s January bushfires, fire-affected communities are still waiting for homes, clean-up, temporary accommodation, infrastructure and basic recovery support.
Ms Cleeland said Victorians had a right to know how hundreds of millions of dollars in state and Commonwealth funding had been allocated and spent.
“More than $420 million has been announced, yet nine months later people who lost their homes are still asking where the recovery is,” Ms Cleeland said.
“This is not about accounting for money on a spreadsheet. This is about families who lost everything and communities that are still waiting for the basic support they were promised.
“If hundreds of millions of dollars has been committed, Victorians should be able to see where it has gone.”
Ms Cleeland’s referral to the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office raises serious questions about the delivery and traceability of the recovery funding, including:
- Temporary housing: More than $100 million has been allocated, yet only two modular homes and three caravans have been delivered in Strathbogie Shire.
- Clean-up: The clean-up program remains incomplete nearly nine months after the fires, with delays holding up rebuilding for affected residents.
- Mental health: Several LGAs went several months after the fires without on-the-ground mental health support.
- Community grants: Eligibility requirements for at least one recovery grants program prevented community groups from qualifying.
- Infrastructure: Recreation reserves, community assets, bridges and infrastructure remain lost with no recovery timeline. Despite a two-year rebuild deadline under the Disaster Ready Fund, no tenders have been issued, with applications stalled in the process at the Department of Justice and Community Safety.
- Funding traceability: There are allegations the Commonwealth cannot trace its co-contributed funding through to communities, with recovery money split across Victorian Treasury, Emergency Management Victoria, the Department of Justice and Community Safety and the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.
- Recovery on the ground: People who were burnt out of their homes remain homeless, couch surfing or living in insecure accommodation, while concerns remain around rate relief and the speed of planning and permit approvals.
Ms Cleeland said the recovery could not be judged by how much money had been announced, but by what had actually reached people on the ground.
“The Labr Government cannot point to a $420 million headline and expect that to be the end of the conversation,” Ms Cleeland said.
“We need to know what has been spent, where it has been spent, who received it and what Victorians got for it.
“People who lost their homes should not still be waiting nine months later while governments work through paperwork and departments pass responsibility around.
“Fire-affected communities have done their part. They deserve answers about where their recovery funding has gone.”
Ms Cleeland has asked VAGO to urgently investigate the administration and expenditure of the more than $400 million in state and Commonwealth recovery funding, including what has been disbursed, which programs and providers received funding, and what has actually reached fire-affected communities.
