Federal Member for Wright, Scott Buchholz has welcomed changes to the reimbursement scheme for firefighters, announced by the Prime Minister yesterday.
“I want to commend the Prime Minister for the leadership he has shown on this. These changes make good, common sense and will mean many local volunteer rural firefighters are eligible for the lost income scheme.
“I advocated very strongly on behalf of locals – because the scheme simply was not going to work for primary producers, it was far too onerous for them to prove a ‘loss of income’.
“We all know how devastating the impact of the drought has been. One of those impacts is lack of income. Many farmers were on the fire front, away from their farming businesses and had no tangible way to prove lost income.
“The new criteria will mean a simplification of the processing of payments. For primary producers, income will be assumed and that will enable payments of $200 per day to be provided, without the need to substantiate lost income,” Mr Buchholz said.
Applications can be made via the Queensland Governments website at https://www.qld.gov.au/emergency/volunteering-jobs/volunteer/support-for-qfes-volunteers/application-form
