Liberal MP Tony Pasin says Keilira bushfire victims have been ‘forgotten’ again

Tony Pasin has blasted his own government over bushfire recovery funds, saying his voters were re-traumatised when the next seat over got the lion’s share.

Residents in the state’s South East have been “kicked in the guts” and “re-traumatised” more than two years after they were “forgotten” in the Black Summer bushfires, Liberal backbencher Tony Pasin says, as he blasts his own government for knocking back a grant for a new childcare centre in Kingston.

Mr Pasin has launched a scathing attack on the distribution of the Black Summer Bushfire Recovery fund, which has handed his Barker electorate just $415,000 to recover from a blaze that tore through more than 25,000ha at the end of 2019.

Meanwhile, Liberal colleague Rowan Ramsey’s electorate of Grey has received more than $5.7m in grants to recover from two fires that burned through a combined area of 5200ha.

Barker MP Tony Pasin has been left “disappointed” and “confused” with the distribution of the Black Summer Bushfire Recovery fund.

At the end of 2019, dry lightning sparked a ferocious blaze at Keilira near Kingston SE, destroying three homes, hundreds of kilometres of fencing and killing 3000 sheep and up to 400 heads of cattle.

It was branded the “forgotten” fire of SA’s devastating 2019/20 summer, as it came amid the Kangaroo Island blaze, which made headlines around the world.

Mr Pasin said South East residents were once again feeling “forgotten” after the federal government’s National Recovery and Resilience Agency denied the Kingston council’s request for $1.6m to build a new childcare facility, worsening crippling service issues in the town.

“I’m concerned this decision has re-traumatised them and indeed might impact the very good work the community itself has done in recovering from the devastating bushfire,” Mr Pasin told The Advertiser.

“I commend the dedication and hard work of the volunteers who prepared the proposal. They must feel like they’ve been kicked in the guts.”

An agency spokesman said all applications underwent a “thorough comparative assessment process”.

“The projects that received funding were those that presented the strongest case against the program objectives,” the spokesman said.

“All 110 local government areas impacted by the Black Summer bushfire disaster will benefit in some way from the funding being provided through the Program, either through local projects or projects that span multiple areas.”

Mr Pasin said he had raised the town’s childcare service issues with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and vowed to keep “fighting” until the problems were solved.

South East residents David and Fiona Rasheed at their property at Keilira in June 2020, months after the blaze tore through the farming community.

It was branded the “forgotten fire”, but the Keilira blaze tore through more than 25,000ha.

Mr Pasin’s Barker electorate has received bushfire relief funding for just three projects associated with the Keilira fire, including $265,000 to build a new community hub.

The Grey electorate, covering the vast majority of outback SA, has been handed $5.7m in grants to recover from the 2019 Duck Ponds and Yorketown blazes.

The approved grants include $2.25m for a new southern Yorke Peninsula childcare centre and $1.8m for a multipurpose community centre in the same area.

“I was disappointed and quite frankly confused with the agency’s assessment of applications,” Mr Pasin said.

The Keilira fire burned through more than three quarters of David and Fiona Rasheed’s property, including 115km of fencing. Ms Rasheed said the distribution of bushfire recovery grants was “disappointing”, as her community was still crying out for support, particularly with child care.

“To hear that the funding wasn’t provided was a hugely devastating blow and we kind of feel (the federal government) has turned their backs on us now,” Ms Rasheed said.

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