Australia bushfires: Emergency relief payment for kids doubles to $800
The $400 emergency cash payment per child for families hit by bushfires around the country has been doubled under a raft of changes announced by the federal government.
NSW
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The parents of almost 20,000 kids in NSW will get an extra $400 per child dropped into their bank account on Monday as the federal government boosts bushfire relief for families.
Under the changes, families in bushfire affected regions who have already claimed the Commonwealth Disaster Recovery Payment worth $1000 for adults and $400 for children under the age of 16 will now get double the amount for each child.
In NSW about 19,276 payments of $400 have already been made to families, who will now receive another round of cash, expected to start being automatically put into bank accounts from Monday January 20.
While families yet to claim the emergency payment will automatically now be eligible for $800 per child.
The normal $1000 payment for people over the age of 16 remains.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the cash boost for families along with a number of other emergency payment changes – including cutting red tape for volunteer firefighters’ compensation – on Wednesday.
Mr Morrison said the changes the children’s payment was expected to cost an extra $7.9 million, but the amount would not be capped.
“If you’ve already received $400, you don’t need to apply again,” he said.
“That’s an additional payment for families to recognise not only have they had to deal with this terrible disaster, but at this time of the year, particularly for those families with kids going back to school and the additional expenses and the anxieties and concerns around those issues.
“This will provide that little bit of extra help to support them and in recognition of the needs that they have at this time of the year.”
The government has also changed the criteria for the $1000 payments, which will now be available to people who have had damage to assets other than their residence – such as vehicles, sheds or fence infrastructure – with an accumulative value of more than $20,000.
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Mr Morrison also announced volunteer firefighters who are eligible for $300 a day compensation up to $6,000 would now no longer have to do the paperwork required to prove they have lost income to claim a lower $200 amount.
About 1000 NSW Rural Fire Service volunteers have already registered to receive the $300 a day payment given to self employed or small and medium business employees who have taken time off work to fight the fires.
But there have been concerns about red tape preventing volunteers from accessing the payment in a time of critical need.
The changes mean volunteers can now show up and claim $200 a day up to $6,000 without any proof of income loss, provided they have been fighting the fires.
“What we have agreed to do is to speed this process up,” Mr Morrison said.
“Where they’ve been turning up for more than 10 days and the Rural Fire Service of NSW … this also applies in Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania, who have access these payments, they will be able to simply say they get back $200 per day for each additional day of service and all they have to do is be self-employed or work for a business of that size and have performed that level of service.”