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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 6 Hansard (19 June) . . Page.. 2171 ..
(2) What is the estimated number of these properties.
(3) Does the government's $10 000 / $5 000 benefit apply to such properties.
Mr Stanhope
: The answer to the member's question is as follows:(1) The ACT Recovery Centre has over 1400 residents registered as being fire affected after the January Bushfires. This includes residents whose houses were partially or severally damaged by the fires. Depending on the residents particular circumstances Recovery Officers can offer outreach visits and personal support; referrals for counseling; information about rebuilding or repairing damaged properties from PALM; access to a variety of material assistance; and advocacy with other ACT Government and non-Government agencies as needed.
Other assistance provided includes:
Community Update
newsletter is published weekly. It provides information on matters such as insurance, donations, volunteering, public health and safety, the clean up, Canberra Bushfire Recovery Appeal, small business advice, taxation, rural matters, financial assistance, environmental issues, housing, lost pets, traffic arrangements and useful contacts. Information is also provided weekly in the Canberra Times and the Chronicle.Health and Safety Helpline
was introduced by the Government to address issues of concern to people still living in the bushfire affected areas. These included issues such as missing fences and sewer smells.Free plant issue scheme
has been extended to people whose gardens were fire affected, including those whose homes were destroyed, enabling them to replant trees and scrubs at a reduced cost.Public information sessions
have been held on a range of issues including business and rural leaseholders forum, living in a bushfire affected neighbourhood including the requirements of builders and taxation advice.(2) Whilst some preliminary information was gathered on damaged (but not destroyed) homes it was very difficult to be fully definitive, not least because some householders moved very quickly to clean up their properties, whereas other people had great difficulty in commencing the process. Therefore, it is not possible to provide an accurate estimate of the number of severely damaged homes, including those that were smoke damaged.
(3) In relation to the $5000/$10,000 grants, the Government has made these grants available to those people whose houses were destroyed, and further smaller groups of properties that were assessed as being uninhabitable because:
of the substantial level of smoke damage; and/or
they were assessed as being unsafe; and/or
the insurance company assessed them as being a total loss.
To date the Secretariat considers that there are a total of 24 homes that fall into these categories. There are a number of applicants who have requested a review of the decision about this matter, principally because they consider the Landlord has not made their home habitable quickly enough. The outcome of these cases is yet to be determined.
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