Inequity of support grounds for class action

The inequity of support given to current and past fire victims should be the grounds of a class action, according to Bunyip Complex Fires Community Recovery Committee president Tony Fitzgerald.

Mr Fitzgerald said the frustrations of local residents were mounting in the wake of East Gippsland fires as the focus shifts to a new group of fire affected victims.

While not taking away from the needs of East Gippslanders, he said there were many in the Bunyip Complex Fires that had now “dropped off the list.”

“What’s the difference to people losing their house in March (last year) to losing it in the November or January fires,” he said.

Mr Fitzgerald said there was no legislative link between the state government’s declared “state of disaster” for the East Gippsland fires and funding allocations.

Yet, he said, Bunyip fire victims were being told that because they weren’t part of a “disaster” they aren’t eligible for the same funding.

“In East Gippsland they are getting extra benefits that we didn’t get let alone all the millions of dollars that has been donated.

“Disaster relates to emergency powers not funding.

“This is a political argument we have to win. If you’re house burns down you have to be eligible for support, it has nothing to do with it being a disaster.

“There is no equity in this, it is grounds for a class action.

Mr Fitzgerald said nobody had started rebuilding, relocation insurance was running out and people were still living in sheds, caravans and rentals.

“It sure felt like a disaster for all of us who lived through it and are still trying to recover.

“To exclude victims of the Bunyip fires - particularly those people here who have lost everything including their businesses is having a despairing impact on our communities,” he said.

Mr Fitzgerald has a list detailing 62 offers of state and federal financial support or assistance to latest fire affected residents. Only 10 of those are eligible for Bunyip fire victims.

The Victorian Bushfire Appeal, of which 100 per cent of donated funds will go to communities in need, also is not available to Bunyip residents.