Australia bushfire donations: Red Cross accused of keeping millions away for future disasters
The Red Cross is working hard to hose down claims it will hold back a portion of bushfire donations for future emergencies like floods and cyclones. The charity has also defended why just $30 million of $115 million raised has been issued to people in need.
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The Red Cross has tried to hose down claims it could stash millions of dollars in bushfire donations for future emergencies like floods and cyclones despite telling The Daily Telegraph it was “prudent to plan for the future”.
Charity director Noel Clements yesterday said just $30 million of $115 million donated to The Red Cross’ Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund had been paid out to bushfire victims.
“Right now, the emergency we’re responding to are the current bushfires and we have committed $30 million, of $10,000 grants, to the immediate response phase,” Mr Clements said.
“We know from our long experience in disasters that receovery takes time and effort and it’s prudent to budget for it.
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“It is also prudent to plan for the inevitable disasters to come, so our Disaster Relief and Recover Fund remains in place to scale up and to respond when the cyclones and floods hit.”
But Mr Clements backtracked on national television this morning, telling The Today Show money donated during the bushfire crisis would only be spent on bushfire victims.
“This is for bushfires, this is not holding back for other disasters. I can assure you of that,” Mr Clements said.
The Red Cross was forced to address how it dispenses donated funds following fury from fire-affected towns for committing less than 30 per cent of the $115 million raised.
State government minister Andrew Constance on Tuesday said he was “furious” that charitable organisations are sitting on tens of millions of dollars and not distributing it to desperate residents.
The Bega MP, who almost lost his home in the south coast fires, has challenged the heads of the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and St Vincent de Paul to come to Batemans Bay and witness the devastation first-hand on Saturday.
The Vinnies Bushfire Appeal has so far raised $12.5 million, of which just over $1 million has been spent on helping bushfire victims.
About $40 million has been pledged towards the Salvation Army’s national disaster fund since its bushfire appeal was launched in November.
Of that money, about $7.5 million has been handed over.
The Salvation Army and Red Cross have said the majority of the money would be spent over the medium to long term to help people recover.
The Red Cross declined to answer whether its boss would meet Mr Constance but the head of Vinnies said he would be there and the Salvation Army is considering the offer.
So far The Red Cross has processed just 559 cash grants of $10,000 and $20,000 payments are now available to next of kin of those who died.
Mr Constance praised the work of volunteers from the charities who are “working their guts out” but said bosses needed to get on the ground and “have a rethink” about how donations are prioritised.
“How dare they (the Red Cross) say publicly they’re only going to spend a third of the donations on people when people are traumatised and in crisis?” Mr Constance said.
“We need the donations … what we don’t need is welfare bureaucracy thinking this is the opportunity for them to grow their organisations.”
“We’ve got people in tents, on lounges, in caravan parks, in showgrounds, people sleeping rough on their burnt-out properties and they don’t want to hear about a three-year program.”
Mr Clements could not reveal how much of the donations will go towards the bushfire response and how much will be set aside for the future events.
“Be assured the mechanisms are in place, including an independent Fund Advisory Panel of eminent Australians, to enable a sound and transparent response,” Mr Clement said.
The charity spent almost $2.5m in the last financial year for Australian Red Cross Humanitarian Services management staff, which includes salaries and benefits of eight executives and expenses paid for board members.
While Mr Clements denied any of the $115 million raised by The Red Cross would go towards marketing or paying executives he did say up to 10 cents in every dollar raised could be allocated toward administration costs.
“No more than 10 per cent goes towards administering this response effort,” Mr Clements said.
But this morning Mr Clements said the charity didn’t expect to spend anywhere near $11 million on administration costs.
Peter Iverson, 72, lost a building on his property near Rainbow Flat in November and has been helped by Rotary, the Lions Club, the Salvos and local churches but he hadn’t heard from the Red Cross.
He applied for a $1000 grant from the government but was knocked back because he and his wife receive pensions.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Scott Morrison today vowed to work with charities to makes sure the money donated gets to those in need.
“It is very important that the funds that have been raised by charitable groups, through the generosity of Australians, obviously get to people as quickly as it possibly can,” Mr Morrison said in a press conference.
“We are working with the state governments to assist the charities to do just that.
“They were very clear in the meeting I had with them last week that they want to honour the trust that has been put in them.
“These are the charitable organisations that Australians have always had deep trust and respect for.
“The Salvation Army, the Red Cross, St Vincent de Paul — these are trusted, respected, good-hearted organisations that have proved themselves in so many disasters, and that’s why we rely on them.
“This disaster is of a very large scale, and we are working with them to support them, to ensure that they can get more support out to the places where it’s needed.”
Originally published as Australia bushfire donations: Red Cross accused of keeping millions away for future disasters
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