Greens call for resumption of NSW parliament to pass fire relief payments

The NSW Greens are demanding an urgent resumption of parliament to authorise $10,000 relief payments to those who have lost homes.

Yoni Bashan

The Greens have called for the urgent resumption of NSW parliament to authorise relief payments to those who have lost their home during the bushfire season. Picture: Rohan Kelly

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2:52PMJanuary 07, 2020

The NSW Greens are calling for an urgent resumption of parliament to authorise $10,000 relief payments for people who have lost their homes in the ongoing bushfire emergency.

Greens MP David Shoebridge said NSW parliament should be recalled immediately to pass the package, which his party has costed at $15 million.

Currently, people who have lost their homes but who remain employed are entitled to a one-off federally-funded payment of $1000, Mr Shoebridge said, while those who have lost their income can claim the Newstart allowance for 13 weeks. The allowance starts at $489.70 per fortnight for single adults with no children and increases for those with dependants.

Greens MP and spokesperson for emergency services David Shoebridge. Picture: Richard Dobson

Mr Shoebridge criticised the current payment scheme as “grossly inadequate” and said $10,000 for each household could easily be funded from the government’s existing $702 million surplus. The costings are based on an estimate of 1500 homes being lost.

“People who have lost their homes need urgent accommodation, money to buy clothes, food and other essentials to restart their lives,” Mr Shoebridge said. “One thousand dollars doesn’t come near covering the costs and neither does three months of Newstart payments.”

He said his party had the support of some crossbench MPs in the upper house, but this does not include Labor which has indicated it won’t participate in the move to recall the parliament.

“If we can convince Labor we have a guaranteed 21 votes,” Mr Shoebridge said, which would amount to about half the members of the Legislative Council.

The upper house is scheduled to sit on February 25 and the lower house on February 4. Both houses would need to pass the package for the proposal to be accepted.