The Minns Labor Government’s rollout of flood support for farmers in the Hunter and Mid North Coast regions will go down as one of the greatest failures in living memory after it was revealed deliberate tactics are being used to prevent the money from getting out the door.
Cuts to the Rural Assistance Authority (RAA) combined with extremely complex application guidelines have left primary producers waiting for help more than 100 days after the devastation.
Last Thursday, Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty promised “by the end of this week already received applicants will either have their claim assessed or received a direct update on the status of their application” but some farmers just received a bulk automated email to make it look like things had improved.
NSW Nationals Leader Dugald Saunders said the depth of deceit from the Minister and the government is simply astounding.
“To think that while the Department is being told to pretend to try and help people, impacted farmers are literally losing their livelihoods and having their lives destroyed,” Mr Saunders said.
“The Minister needs to explain how deliberate roadblocks to slow down grant payments and then providing the illusion of an information update could be regarded as anything but disgraceful.
“The entire response to these life-changing floods has been embarrassing and will go down as the highest level of betrayal by any government, especially in people’s time of need.”
Minister Moriarty’s media release also stated the Government was “doubling the number of people working on assessments” after less than a quarter of applications were approved in over three months.
Mr Saunders said it raises serious questions about why several RAA staff, including seven Assessment Officers, are being axed, with the changes due to come into effect today.
“The RAA is the lead agency responsible for rolling out natural disaster grants, including for the May floods, so how can the government possibly justify this decision given the year we’ve had,” Mr Saunders said.
“Instead of looking to gut the Department that looks after the regions, it should reconsider these cruel cuts and maybe start to utilise the people it’s planning to ‘delimit’.”
“The Minister tried to blame these delays on the large number of applications, while she sat on her hands for months and sidelined the staff who have years of experience. Now she’s playing catch up and scrambling to replace them because she’s so far behind.”
After the Lismore floods the former Nationals’ Government received 10,485 applications for support compared with the 2000 the Minns Government has received in the past few months.
