The Liberal Party has been slammed as "out of touch" for opposing a proposal that could see $1000 bushfire disaster recovery payments increased.
A Senate inquiry into the 2019-2020 bushfires recommended the disaster payments and allowances be reviewed - with a view to increasing them "as a matter of urgency" - when it released its interim report on Wednesday (October 7).
But in a dissenting report, Liberal Senators said the payments could "inadvertently provide a disincentive for insurance and personal responsibility".
Labor MP for Macquarie Susan Templeman - who lost her Winmalee home in 2013 bushfires - said the Liberal stance showed they "don't have a clue about what it's like to suffer real hardship".
"What the Coalition Senators are saying is that there should be no review of this payment, no review at all, because it might provide a disincentive to people to insure or take personal responsibility. How dare they suggest that for the sake of $1000 someone might willingly step aside and let their house burn down?" she told the media on Thursday (October 8).
Ms Templeman said the payments were crucial following a disaster.
"When your house goes, you have nothing but the clothes you're standing in. You need to go out and buy socks and jocks, bras and undies. You might need a mobile phone... You need absolutely everything from a toothbrush to a pair of pyjamas," she said.
"And to say that it is a disincentive to insure just shows how out of touch these Liberal Senators are. They don't have a clue about what it's like to suffer real hardship, and quite frankly it sounds like they don't care."
In their recommendation disagreeing with the call to review the disaster recovery payments, the Liberal Senators noted that a Productivity Commission report into natural disaster funding arrangements recommended lowering rates of disaster recovery payments and the disaster recovery allowance.
"There is a fine line between supporting Australians in crisis and inadvertently providing a disincentive for insurance and personal responsibility," they said.
Minister for Emergency Management, David Littleproud MP, said "the Senate's Bushfire inquiry interim report will be assessed in the context of outcomes from the Royal Commission into Natural Disaster Arrangements".
"As noted in the dissenting report, the 2014 Productivity Commission Report into Natural Disaster Funding Arrangement recommended payments be lowered. The Coalition Government increased the payments to children and teenagers by $400 during the Black Summer."
"The Government will consider any further proposals within the context of the outcomes of the Royal Commission."
