Clean-up from bushfire on Kangaroo Island and Adelaide Hills could drag on for months, with only 10 properties cleared
The clean-up effort on bushfire-ravaged Kangaroo Island and in the Adelaide Hills could drag on for another month or more, with hundreds of burnt-out properties yet to be cleared.
SA News
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Only 10 devastated properties have been cleared in the two months since bushfires ravaged Kangaroo Island and the Adelaide Hills.
Kangaroo Island Mayor Michael Pengilly has condemned the State Government’s recovery as “tediously slow”.
It comes as a nature-based tourism push – focused on the Flinders Ranges – launches to combat the devastating impacts of the coronavirus and the summer bushfires.
Just five properties destroyed in the Hills and another five on Kangaroo Island have been completely cleared by State Government agency Green Industries SA.
The Hills fire razed 87 homes and the Kangaroo Island blaze 89.
More than 300 property owners have asked the Government to help clear the remains of burnt houses, sheds and outbuildings.
Green Industries is expecting to clear just one property a day in a process that could drag on for months.
Properties with asbestos are being prioritised.
Bushfires tore through the Adelaide Hills in December and Kangaroo Island over New Year, claiming three lives.
Mr Pengilly said the slow pace of the official bushfires clean-up since then was hurting victims’ mental health.
He said the process so far had been “tediously slow” but hoped it would rapidly improve.
“There is also a need for self-help,” he said.
“People are waiting for it all to happen, while some have got in and cleaned up their own properties already.”
The Government said 35 properties are in the process of being cleared on Kangaroo Island and another 12 in the Hills.
A spokesman said the clean-up rate would now progress rapidly.
“Where properties contain asbestos, this does take time to do safely and responsibly,” he said.
Mawson MP Leon Bignell called on the Government to look at its delayed response and the damage inaction had caused to victims’ mental health as part of the planned bushfire inquiries.
It comes amid confusion over which property owners are eligible to apply for clean-up and recovery grants worth up to $75,000.
Brukunga Alpaca breeders Sue and Trevor Drogemuller lost fencing, sheds, hay and livestock in the Cudlee Creek fire but are ineligible for the grant because Mr Drogemuller earns more than 50 per cent of his income as an accountant.
But at a community meeting, they were told to apply despite not meeting the criteria.
“We don’t want to submit something that is less than 100 per cent correct,” Ms Drogemuller said.
Federal Mayo MP Rebekha Sharkie said the grants and loan programs were causing confusion and some distress.
“I am being told that the eligibility requirements are unclear and that people are receiving conflicting information … from government and stakeholder groups,” she said.
A Primary Industries and Regions SA spokeswoman encouraged those unsure of their eligibility “due to their current off-farm income” to apply.
“Complex cases will be considered,” she said.
The $4.3 million Kangaroo Island Mayoral Fund has handed out $842,000 to one-third of its 322 applications. “It was a bit of a slow start to disburse but that was due to legal technicalities,” Mr Pengilly said. Another 60 applications will be assessed on Thursday.