The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS), together with the Queensland Council of Social Service (QCOSS) and the New South Wales Council of Social Service (NCOSS) are calling for the Federal Government to immediately increase the Disaster Recovery Payment to help people survive the massive hardships caused by flooding.

The current Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment is $1000 per adult and $400 per child. The groups argued they should be increased to $3000 per adult and $1000 per child. The adult payment hasn’t been increased since 2006.

ACOSS CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie said:

The payment goes nowhere near meeting the cost of helping people survive and recover from the devastating loss of property and feeding themselves and their families.

It’s always the people on the lowest incomes that get hurt the most during these emergencies.

We’ve been warning the government since the bushfires that there is a need to increase disaster recovery payments as extreme weather events become more common.

There’s no way we can crowdfund our way out of these disasters, the Government needs to step up and take responsibility for the effects of climate change on our communities.

 

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