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The Federal Government is committing an additional $2 billion over two years to a new agency tasked with rebuilding bushfire-ravaged towns.
Key points:
- The Federal Government has pledged $2 billion — and more if required — for the creation of the new bushfire recovery agency and payments to those affected
- The Prime Minister remains committed to delivering a budget surplus in the current financial year
- The Government had faced criticism for a delayed response to the bushfires
The national bushfire recovery agency will be led by former Australian Federal Police commissioner Andrew Colvin, working closely with the states and territories to rebuild homes and critical infrastructure destroyed in the bushfires.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison made the announcement after a National Security Committee of Cabinet meeting in Canberra.
"The $2 billion commitment is an additional cost, an initial commitment, and if further funds are required, further funds will be provided," Mr Morrison said.
The new bushfire recovery agency will operate for at least two years and the new funding is separate to existing disaster relief payments.
Mr Morrison also confirmed 20 Services Australia "pop-ups" would be deployed to affected communities to provide help.
"What we are focusing on here is the human cost and the rebuilding cost for people's lives," Mr Morrison said.
"We're focused on the financial cost, we're focused on the human costs and ensuring we can do everything we can, as quickly as we can, to support that recovery effort."
Mr Morrison mobilised the Army reserve to support the effort over the weekend. By Monday afternoon, 497 reservists had been called out.
The Defence Force is also deploying its engineers to assess damage and open roads.
Income loss concern
Robert Provenzale lives with his partner and two young children in Batemans Bay and usually works on the local bridge upgrade.
But with work on the bridge delayed, he's currently in Canberra trying to find income to support his family and pay off his house.
"We've been out of our home off and on for the last week due to the fires," he said.
"Now, the fires have impacted the town dramatically, a lot of people have been put off work for I don't know how long, it could be a week, it could be months."
He said existing disaster relief payments — equivalent to Newstart — were not enough to make up for his lost income.
"It's, to be honest, stuff all.
"It'll barely pay my bills, it'll barely pay anything."
He said the most important thing to help people in his position was to get local businesses operating again by opening roads and connecting electricity.
"There are tens of thousands of families along the coast and all through New South Wales that are literally going to have no income for possibly months.
"I don't know what they're going to do, it's really bloody sad."
Surplus speculation
There had been speculation that costs associated with the bushfires could spoil the Government's plan to offer a surplus in the current financial year.
Mr Morrison claimed "the surplus is of no focus to me".
"We will make every investment that needs to be made."
The indicative costs for the bushfire response for the current year are $500 million. The budget surplus was predicted to be $5 billion in December.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese had called for a quicker response to the unfolding crisis.
"I wrote to the Prime Minister calling for COAG to be convened in mid-November, which is when I think it should have been," he told radio station 5AA.
"I do think from the beginning there should have been a national response that was agreed to by Prime Minister on Saturday."
The response to Cyclone Yasi and the Brisbane floods cost $5.6 billion over six years.
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Topics: government-and-politics, emergency-incidents, health, disasters-and-accidents, fires, australia
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