{"id":4768,"date":"2020-01-05T01:17:45","date_gmt":"2020-01-05T01:17:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=4768"},"modified":"2020-01-05T01:17:45","modified_gmt":"2020-01-05T01:17:45","slug":"our-bushfire-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2020\/01\/05\/our-bushfire-response\/","title":{"rendered":"\u200bOur Bushfire Response"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"lpa-combined-content-outer lpa-issue-post-header-outer\">\n<div class=\"main-content-outer\">\n<div class=\"container\">\n<div class=\"row lpa-page-twocol\">\n<div class=\"region region-content\">\n<div id=\"block-system-main\" class=\"block-system-main block block-system\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<article id=\"node-100119\" class=\"node node-article node-sticky clearfix\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<div class=\"field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden page-styles\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\nOur country is facing devastating and widespread bushfires.<br \/>\nThis requires us to do everything possible to fight fires, protect lives, and ensure communities are getting the support they need.<\/p>\n<h4>1. DEPLOYING THE AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE<\/h4>\n<p>The Australian Defence Force is providing boots on the ground, planes in the sky and ships at sea, to support the bushfire fighting effort and recovery.<br \/>\nFor the first time in our history, the Government has enacted a compulsory call-out of the Australian Defence Force Reserve Brigades.<br \/>\nThis will provide up to 3,000 Australian Defence Force Reservists, including personnel with skills in engineering, medical, logistics and transport support.<br \/>\nThe Navy\u2019s largest ship, HMAS Adelaide, will join HMAS Choules and MV Sycamore in supporting the evacuation of citizens.<br \/>\nThe Adelaide is fully equipped for disaster relief and humanitarian aid. It can operate all ADF helicopters. It has 400 crew, including medical staff, and 300 tonnes of emergency relief supplies.<br \/>\nThe Government is deploying additional ADF air lift and reconnaissance capacity. This includes Chinook helicopters, C-17 Globemasters, C-130 Hercules and C-27 Spartans.<br \/>\nAll Defence bases between Brisbane and Adelaide will provide temporary transit accommodation and support for those displaced by the fires. Call 1800 DEFENCE (1800 333 362) for more information.<br \/>\nMajor General Justin Ellwood, will have national authority over the ADF Joint Task Forces. The ADF will work in cooperation with and support state emergency authorities.<\/p>\n<h4>2. ADDITIONAL WATERBOMBING<\/h4>\n<p>The Government immediately responded to a request for an additional waterbombing aircraft, by providing $20 million to lease four extra planes.<br \/>\nThis includes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>two long-range fixed wing DC-10s (with 36,000 litres capacity); and<\/li>\n<li>two medium-range fixed-wing Large Air Tankers (with 11,000 litre capacity).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This is in addition to $26 million already provided to the states and territories through the National Aerial Firefighting Centre, which provides specialised firefighting aircraft.<\/p>\n<h4>3. IMMEDIATE FINANCIAL HELP<\/h4>\n<p>The Government is providing immediate financial support to fire-affected communities.<br \/>\nThis includes a non-means tested Disaster Recovery Payment of $1,000 for eligible adults and $400 for children.<br \/>\nA Disaster Recovery Allowance is available to provide short-term income support for those who have lost income.<br \/>\nIn the 33 Local Government Areas hardest hit by the fires, the Commonwealth and State governments are providing $15,000 recovery grants for small businesses, community organisations and primary producers and funds for local government to help communities recover.<\/p>\n<h4>4. SUPPORT FOR VOLUNTEER FIRE FIGHTERS<\/h4>\n<p>The Government is funding financial support of up to $6,000 for emergency services volunteers who have lost income as a result of volunteering to fight the fires.<br \/>\nPublic servants who are emergency services volunteers are being provided with additional paid leave. We thank the Australian companies which have matched this.<br \/>\n<strong><u>Australian Government financial assistance<\/u><\/strong><br \/>\nAnyone who has been adversely affected by the bushfires should contact the Department of Human Services on 180 22 66 to seek advice on eligibility for the payment.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our country is facing devastating and widespread bushfires. This requires us to do everything possible to fight fires, protect lives, and ensure communities are getting the support they need. 1. DEPLOYING THE AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE The Australian Defence Force is providing boots on the ground, planes in the sky and ships at sea, to support &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2020\/01\/05\/our-bushfire-response\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;\u200bOur Bushfire Response&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4768\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}