Bunyip bushfires
Mr BLACKWOOD (Narracan) (09:49): The Bunyip fires occurred last March, and the community is very much of the opinion that they are the forgotten fires. The Premier let the survivors of that disaster down badly when he failed to apply to the federal government for help until October 2019—some eight months after the event. The federal government in their wisdom then closed off the opportunity for financial assistance in December 2019. Thirty homes were lost in March last year. At present only four owners have begun the application process, which for each of them has stalled at the last hurdle: native vegetation offsets. The Premier must grant an exemption to these offsets, which on average cost around $2000 per tree. There is a huge difference in the assistance being offered to East Gippsland survivors compared to what has been made available to Bunyip North survivors. There must be equity in the response to both fires. Granting native vegetation offset exemptions would be a good start to removing the inequity in the response from government.