Mallee business owners under persistent threat of bushfire told Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton they cannot secure the insurance they need to protect their livelihoods, after his visit organised by Member for Mallee Dr Anne Webster MP.

The Leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton MP also called on the Victorian Labor Government to lift its game and seek federal disaster recovery funding  assistance, after meeting with fire-affected Halls Gap community members on Wednesday alongside Dr Webster, Shadow Minister for Emergency Management Senator Perin Davey and Shadow Minister for Immigration and Member for Wannon, Dan Tehan MP.

Dr Webster echoed Mr Dutton’s calls for Australians to return to Halls Gap in droves to help local businesses recover.

“Words fail me again to describe the heartache and devastation of bushfire in the Grampians, struck twice in twelve months by natural disaster.  I invited the Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton to visit the Halls Gap community on Wednesday to offer support, and two key things we all heard about were businesses’ desperate financial situation and the failure of the insurance market to protect them,” Dr Webster said.

The previous fires in February at nearby Pomonal and Dadswells Bridge destroyed 45 Pomonal homes in their community of 300, costing the local economy an estimated $200 million and hundreds of thousands of tourists.  Insurance premiums rose locally as a result.

On 17 December dry lightning started a fire which burned for three weeks near the 450-strong community of Halls Gap. The fire burned 76,000 hectares, destroying four homes in Moyston and Mafeking, 40 outbuildings and 540 kilometres of fencing. The fire also burned 10,053 hectares of pasture, 1285 beehives and killed 775 sheep – not to mention the incalculable cost to flora and fauna.

“The strong message Peter Dutton, my shadow ministerial colleagues and I received at Halls Gap was that the fire struck during the year’s prime tourist season. I walked the empty streets of Halls Gap just after Christmas, with the community shut down due to the fire threat. Small businesses missed their busiest trading period over summer, it was a ghost town. I understand tourism numbers were already down 20 per cent from February’s fires at nearby Dadswell’s Bridge and Pomonal, before the December fires. 

“Tourism operators earn between a quarter and a third of their annual income during the lost three-week period in December-January, with businesses collectively losing an estimated $1.9 million per day.

Under Emergency Management arrangements reformed by the former Coalition government the 2019/20 bushfire season, the Federal Government as of 5 January had granted 43 local ‘Category A’ disaster recovery allowance claims, paying out $15,000 with individuals and business having until 23 June to lodge their claims. However, three larger Category B, C and D assistance packages rely on the Allan Victorian Labor Government to ask for help.

“As of yesterday, to their shame, the Victorian Government had not requested that Federal assistance– a repeat of their tardiness after February’s fires,” Dr Webster said.

“Insurance costs for some Halls Gap businesses have almost quadrupled since the Pomonal fires, and I fear that both the Halls Gap and Los Angeles bushfires will further harm the global insurance pool and drive premiums up further.  But worse still, most Halls Gap businesses tell me they can't secure insurance at all.

“Already under the Albanese Labor Government insurance costs have risen 18 per cent and I am working with locals and the insurance industry to find solutions. I am pleased to say that Peter Dutton committed to speaking to the Prime Minister and to consider policy to fix this situation. Insurance companies should have an obligation to provide insurance or businesses simply will pack up and leave.

Dr Webster also joined Mr Dutton and Coalition colleagues in Pomonal on Wednesday afternoon to thank CFA volunteers for their life-saving efforts.