In southern Australia (Victoria) of the last few weeks there have been horrific fires that have taken many lives and destroyed many homes and livelihoods (as I’m sure you’ve all seen via the media).
Local fundraising drives, and national and international donations have been flooding in quite literally, and the coffers are now quaking to the tune of over $200 million dollars (with the amount expected to double over the next couple of weeks). It has been quite an amazing effort, and I’m lucky to live in such a country I must say.
However, given that most properties were well covered by insurance, and that emergency relief and housing are being provided via the state and federal government/s, should those NGO’s/other ‘relief’ groups continuing to solicit funds FOR THE BUSHFIRE VICTIMS call a moratorium now? How much money is too much, and how are the funds to be distributed if there comes a point where other agencies (like gummint and insurance funds) are paying the way?
Mods, this is sort of a rant, but I’m seeking other opinions before sinking it down to the pit. If you feel it belongs there now, you have my complete approval. Geez, I’m nice aren’t I???
I hear you. But I also hear that more fires are predicted for tomorrow. So it ain’t over yet presumably. And even if there are no more fires this year, with the drought trend going the way it is, what’s going to happen next year? Or the year after that?
Edit - what I mean by all that is - yes, we (you) need another plan other than donations, which are nice, but may not be hitting the real target.
No, but it’s never ‘over’ in Australia. We are a continent beset by drought and flooding rains, when the ‘good and temperate’ years are the anomolous ones and not the norm.
And DON’T GET ME STARTED on the fear-mongering about tomorrow’s forecast!! I’ve checked out the BOM website which is forecasting 32c with some hot north winds followed by a gusty sou’wester change with 75kmh winds…nothing terribly extraordinary really.
But the VicPolice decided to text everyone on their mobile phones warning them about the terrible conditions of 150kmph expected for tomorrow, and even the overhead messages on the major highways were waxing doom and despair…sheesh, we got it already OK, and it prolly isn’t going to be nearly so bad as they are prophesising.
Just don’t park under that gumtree in the driveway, and if you do, get your kid outta the booster seat first.
It’s probably going to be pretty easy to spend. 2000ish houses destroyed, but how much for clean up on those that weren’t? Friends out at Callignee just paid $2000 for cleanup on their place because the fires got close enough to scorch their house but for reasons they’ll never understand didn’t destroy it. They had to get a crew in to fell trees and make the property safe before they could go back there. If their water tank survived, they’ll need to get it cleaned out and refilled because of the ash.
Insurance doesn’t cover everything, I imagine (I hope) some of the funds will be used to help the countless people who face financial hardships because of the fires but who didn’t outright lose everything.
Cicero, it’s also the weird sense of celebrity one-upmanship I am getting from all the concerts etc that are being held to ‘remember’ the lost and to ‘honour the heroes’. How much tragedy can a community consume before it is completely saturated??
Oh for fuck’s sake. In a tragedy like this there are NO heroes. There are people who lived and people who died…it was sheer friggin’ luck which side of the mortal line you happened to end up on.
Cazzle, I truly doubt that the funds raised by the various charities will be available to friends like yours in Callignee unfortunately. I suspect it will be for those ‘devastated’, even if devastated is a pretty subjective term, really.
And my question then remains…when all of the monies are allocated, and there will be PLENTY of $ remaining, where will it go?
What really prompts this thread and the questions within was a thingy I heard on the radio the other morning about a bloke raising ‘funds’ to help tradies get back on their feet again after the fires. Like, nice thought and all, but surely your average sparky or carpenter or plumber might have had their tools insured against eventualities like this??
The way the bloke was pleading to the public about the plight of these poor fellas was enough to get some severe tearing in 'me eye…until I got some sense and realised that they were probably in a better situation than most.
Fuck 'em. Don’t whinge to me that your ute and tools got burnt in the fire, especially when you’ve been claiming them as a tax deduction for the past umpteen years anyway.
How long does the insurance money take to come through?
And though there’s the prospect of lots of work in the coming months, how many tradies have suddenly found that the jobs they had lined up for the next few weeks/months have been burnt out?
Nobody has said they expect anything. If you’re hit by a natural disaster and people volunteer to help you, are you going to say “No thanks. I should have known better than to live in an area where floods, fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, volcanoes, blizzards, ice storms, drought might happen.” ??
One of the other reasons institutions raise money after a “goal” is reached is that the amount announced isn’t actually cash-in-hand but commitments. That is, donors have pledged $A200 million, but the fundraisers don’t yet have that money. IME most fundraising campaigns can expect a payment rate of 50-75%, so for every $100 pledged, the fundraisers can expect to actually receive $50-75.
My understanding is that the $200 million is already in hand, and that the remaining has been pledged but not returned yet. Also, my initial point was that there was no original target, and that the fundraising has taken on a life of its own with donors and benefit-organisers trying to outdo each other in their perceived benevolence.
I don’t want to see the uninsured suffer, but you can see all kinds of issues for the present and the future if the improvident find that failing to plan for contingencies carries a limited penalty, and the provident see that the reward for years of socking money away in premiums is to get about as much or even less than those who didn’t.
Thinking about this very dilemma today, I wondered whether it would be possible for the government to provide no-interest loans to those uninsured folks wanting to rebuild…that way they are gaining no net advantage over those who were insured, but also suffering no net loss at a time when so much has been cruelly taken from them by the fires.
I find it a little surpising about the non insured getting handouts (and I don’t disagree with Kambuckta and Princhester). If they have a mortgage, I understood that most Mortgagers required insurance.
If they don’t have a mortgage, they are in an even better position to pay for insurance and if they have neglected that- well they have made a rod for their own backs. Bushfires are hardly an unknown event.
And of course it’s not just the donors or the taxpayers who are paying to clean up this mess. As many of you know, I work as a telefundraiser to enlist support for those who are disabled and/or otherwise suffering conditions that require financial aid: we raise funds for (amongst others) people living with cancer, people confined to wheelchairs, people needing home-based nursing support, and those adorable cute little dribbling puppies who go on to become the eyes of folks who have limited vision.
And because every single person in Australia has donated so generously to the Bushfire Appeal, the charitable $ available to support the local groups (who have to continue their work regardless of what is happening in the greater world) is either much diminished or just not there at all, despite our entreaties.
I spoke to a lady today, Edna, who had just received her car insurance bill from AAMI. Despite not living in a ‘risk’ zone, despite not having ever had an accident for the life of the insurance, and despite driving LESS now that she is getting on in years, AAMI had whacked her with an extra $140 to ‘cover the costs of the Bushfire victims’. What? Hello? Am I missing something here?
Tragedies like the fires allow all the unscrupulous players to max their returns, and the simple things like deaths of loved ones and loss of neighbours and friends gets shunted into the background unfortunately.
Fuck the fires, and an extra-rusty-barbed-wire fuckoff for all those who are profitting from the disaster.
