Celeste Barber breaks silence on bushfire appeal

Celeste Barber has called on the NSW Government to share the $53M she raised in a bushfire appeal with a range of charities.

Celeste Barber speaks during the Fire Fight Australia bushfire relief concert in February. Picture: AAP

Australian comedian Celeste Barber has broken six months of silence on her battle to donate $53m of bushfire appeal money to multiple charities.

Barber urged the NSW government to “honour” donor wishes and share the money beyond the charity she originally nominated, the NSW Rural Fire Service and Brigades Donation Fund.

Despite her promising her ­social media followers that the cash would be provided to interstate fire services and animal rescue organisations, the NSW Supreme Court ruled in May that the funds could be used only by the NSW RFS.

Injured volunteers and the families of firefighters who died could apply to access the funds, but the money could not be dispersed more widely, it said.

Barber’s original goal was to raise $30,000, but donations soared to $30m after three days.

She promised in a string of posts to her millions of followers on Instagram that the “un­precedented” amount of money would go to firefighting brigades outside NSW and to the Red Cross.

In a submission to NSW parliament in support of a Greens bill to change the strict rules about the way the cash could be spent, Barber said if the money were not shared, people might not be so generous in the future.

“Maybe something that we have never seen before deserves the consideration of a change of rules in this unprecedented instance,” she said.

“My hope is this is the start of a new way of the world coming together to help in a crisis and that this sense of generosity and giving will only motivate people to continue to be kind, continue to give and band together when disaster next strikes.”

Barber said she had refused “hundreds” of media requests over the past five months because it was not her intention to “make this about me”.

An inquiry will sit on Thursday to examine the bill.