East Gippsland community leaders have written to the Prime Minister to express disappointment with a bushfire recovery grants program they say is insulting to the local community.
East Gippsland Shire Council mayor, Cr Mendy Urie, State Member for Gippsland East, Tim Bull, and Federal Member for Gippsland, Darren Chester, said the region would be short-changed unless the Prime Minister revised the allocation of just $4.5 million.
Mr Chester said he was  ‘bitterly disappointed’ by the funding allocation after meeting with Canberra bureaucrats and Ministerial staff to advise them of the unmet need in the region.
“I sat down with them in Canberra two months ago as they were working on the guidelines for this $280 million program and stressed the level of need in East Gippsland,” Mr Chester said.
“It defies logic that they believe Wangaratta and Wodonga suffered anything like the same damage as East Gippsland Shire.”