Eden-Monaro community groups, businesses and councils are still in the dark about whether they will receive any assistance through the Government’s Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Grants program, despite the original timeline indicating successful projects would be announced in December last year.

Member for Eden-Monaro Kristy McBain said organisations were relying on the funding to deliver much needed community recovery and resilience projects as soon as possible.

“Many of our local communities are still struggling to get back on their feet after the devastating bushfires two years ago,” Ms McBain said.

“The Government’s priority should always be to roll out the grant funding as quickly as possible.

“In the case of a delay, the Government should have been upfront and honest. Instead, it has kept community groups in the dark and caused unnecessary stress and uncertainty.”

This week Ms McBain wrote to the Minister for Emergency Management and urged the Government to stop holding out on bushfire affected communities.

“I have been contacted by dozens of groups who are eagerly awaiting the outcome of their application so they can appropriately plan their projects and finances for 2022,” Ms McBain said.

“Groups worked tirelessly to pull together comprehensive grant applications with the expectation that if successful they could start projects early this year.

“The frustrating part is there is no explanation for the delay. We’re two years on from the Black Summer Bushfires, the money has been allocated and quite frankly the Government needs to get a move on and make sure this money flows.”