Tuesday, 5 April 2022

Rutherglen floods

Mr QUILTY (Northern Victoria) (17:55): (1862) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Housing. We have had a lot of high-profile flood events recently, but it is important that the ones from a couple of months ago are not forgotten as we focus on the latest issues. Many people from Rutherglen are still homeless after the flooding a few weeks back. There is no spare accommodation, insurance companies have stopped processing claims and the backlog for builders to even access repairs is months or years long. There was a housing crisis in our small towns even before the disasters. Regional Victoria needs a planning shake-up to increase the building of new housing. But that is not my issue tonight.

On my last visit to Rutherglen I spoke to a constituent who had lost all her personal property in the recent floods and was hospitalised because of her ongoing serious health conditions. I visited her in a nearby caravan park as there was not any available emergency housing in the area at the time she was released from hospital. Amongst her many personal items that were lost was expensive medical equipment that she pays for from her own funds as it is almost impossible to process claims through the NDIS. The constituent’s serious illness does not allow her to work, so she relies on housing that can be provided through the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.

When this constituent applied for long-term housing to replace what was lost in the flood, through the department, she was told that she had too much money in the bank and would not qualify. The money in the bank that put her over the threshold was from an insurance claim from the flood. The constituent needs a house to put her new furniture and medical equipment into, but she cannot get a house until the funds have been spent. Minister, the action I seek is for you to investigate why it is that my constituent, who is permanently attached to oxygen, must spend her insurance proceeds on replacement household items that she has no place to store before she can qualify for long-term assisted housing.