Bushfires: Charities’ funds must get to communities: PM

PM wants charities to get funds to bush-fire ravaged communities quickly as the Red Cross promises not to stockpile any part of the $115m donated.

NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance said he was “furious” that charitable organisations are sitting on tens of millions of dollars and not passing it on to desperate residents.

Scott Morrison has said he wanted “good-hearted” charities to get their funds to bushfire-ravaged communities as soon as possible,as the Red Cross moved to reassure people who have donated $115 million for bushfire relief the money would not be stockpiled for future natural disasters.

“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,” the Prime Minister said in Canberra.

“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.”

The charity was slammed after it admitted that just $30 million of $115m raised since July had been distributed to fire victims and that it planned to withhold funds for future natural disasters such as floods and cyclones

The Prime Minister said the federal government was building up a database to help charities get funds to communities in need more speedily.

“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,” he said.

“What has been worked on is the response of the round table we had last week is the commonwealth has been building a database capability which would enable charitable groups to access that, to know all of those we have been able to support in these communities.

“That’s around about 50,000 people and about $60 million that has already come out from the commonwealth to go to those individuals into those communities.”

NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance said on Wednesday that he was “furious” charitable organisations were sitting on tens of millions of dollars and not passing it on swiftly to desperate residents.

St Vincent’s de Paul has raised more than $12m and has distributed just over $1m to households while the Salvation Army has raised $40m and has handed out $5m.

Australian Red Cross director Noel Clement said yesterday it was “prudent to plan for the inevitable disasters to come so our (fund) remains in place to scale up and to respond when cyclones and floods hit”.

He said the charity had already distributed $30m, including 559 cash grants of $10,000 for people who have had their homes destroyed.

But on Thursday morning Mr Clement denied the charity was “stockpiling’’ money raised as part of bushfire relief and said the funds would only be spent on bushfire victims, now and into the future.

“We have allocated $30 million for immediate relief for people who have lost their homes and those grants are going out at the moment,” Mr Clement told the Today show. “This is for bushfires, this is not holding back for other disasters I can assure you that.”

He said the Red Cross was working hard to approve grants of $10,000 as quickly as possible.

Mr Clement said the Red Cross is planning to spend the $115 million raised since July in phases and that an expert panel would advise the charity where the money would be best spent. “What we are planning is phases of support for people. So we have allocated funds to support our people on the ground,” he said. “As we become clear on needs we will announce further support and longer term support.

“We are applying lessons learnt from other emergency work in Australia and across the globe, including the 2009 Victorian bushfires,” Mr Clement said. “This means we need to retain some funds for a minimum three-year recovery program in affected communities, so when the world’s attention turns away and the story moves on, locals don’t feel left behind.”

Mr Clement said that no more than 10 cents in the dollar would be used for administrative costs.

NSW and ACT Red Cross director Poppy Brown also committed to spending the donated funds on people affected by fires this season and said any interest earned on money held back for future needs would be spent on communities.

“The money that we are raising this year will be spent on the disaster season this year,” Ms Brown told Sky News. “If there are fires in a month’s time the money will be helping those communities in a month’s time.”

In Batemans Bay on Tuesday, Mr Constance, a south coast local, said he wanted to talk to the managing directors of the Red Cross, Salvation Army and St Vincent de Paul and tell them “they are not making the right calls”.

“The money is needed now, not sitting in a Red Cross bank account earning interest so they can map out their next three years and do their marketing,” Mr Constance said.

“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? 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 Constance, who said he would need trauma counselling after his experiences, has invited the bosses of the three charities to tour the south coast with him. “Meet in Batemans Bay at eight o’clock on Saturday and I will drive you the 300km of devastation on the far south coast, I’ll show you the people — you can look them in the eyes,” he said.

It is understood the CEOs of St Vincent De Paul NSW and Canberra, Jack de Groot and Barnie van Wyk, have accepted Mr Constance’s invitation.

Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett said he was concerned that money donated to the Red Cross as part of bushfire relief efforts may not reach the people who need it most.

“It seems to me at the moment that there is no accountability,” Mr Kennett told 2GB.

“The attitude of the Red Cross I think is incorrect. I worry about their administration charges.”

Mr Kennett said that donated money should be put into a trust where it could be audited to ensure that the intent of the owner is honoured.

“...(the Red Cross) must be accountable. That’s why I think the Government is going to have to review what takes place at the moment so that all of these funds can go to a trust which can be audited so the money gets to the people who the money was given for.”

Meanwhile, strong winds and temperatures over 40C are expected to escalate the bushfire risk in NSW on Thursday.