Thursday, 5 March 2026

 Tim McCURDY (Ovens Valley) (14:45): (1550) My question is to the Minister for Emergency services on behalf of Leshya Perkins of Markwood near Wangaratta. The information that I seek is: will the minister prioritise Markwood on the disaster recovery funding arrangements schedule? I note Goomalibee, which also had a bushfire on 18 December, nearly one month earlier than the much larger fires on 9 January, has been included and added to schedule B. There are four categories in the disaster recovery funding arrangements funding. Longwood and Ruffy, which were hit the hardest, are category D, and Goomalibee now is a category B, which is emergency relief payments and council support. The two homes in Markwood, which lost everything in this bushfire, deserve government assistance as well.