National Recovery and Resilience Agency Announcement
This week our Sarsfield Community Association and Recreation Reserve Committee were informed that our application for National Summer Bushfire Recovery funding was deemed ineligible due to its ABN status that identified our volunteer committee as a government entity. Many other East Gippsland organizations secured funding and we congratulate them on their success.
After the devastating fires ripped through Sarsfield on the night of 30th December 2019, volunteer groups have been leading our community, through the initial emergency response into the recovery phase. Significant consultation, community welfare events and hours spent creating a plan for the future of Sarsfield (Sarsfield 2030) which informed the funding application seeking funding for buildings and infrastructure which this community needs and deserves.
Sarsfield was one of the most impacted communities in East Gippsland during the 2019/20 Summer Bushfires with almost one quarter of East Gippsland’s destroyed homes and buildings located in Sarsfield!
Of the 270 homes in Sarsfield 200 were directly fire impacted and 80 homes were destroyed.
The recovery process has been enormous, and the work of our volunteer committees has been outstanding. The rejection of our funding application based on a ‘technicality’ which deemed us ineligible, has thrown a spanner in our plans for the immediate future. Our Federal Local Member, The Honourable Darren Chester is also perplexed and has pledged to work with us to make this right. To repeat a statement made at a meeting last night- this decision would NOT pass the pub test!
As community members we ask you to spread the word, add the #whataboutsarsfield hash tag and support Sarsfield in our endeavours to raise awareness of our situation.
How can you help?
Contact Senator Bridget McKenzie
Minister for Emergency Management and National Recovery and Resilience to let her know how the fires have impacted you or people you care about, and how new facilities at Sarsfield Recreation Reserve would support community bushfire recovery.
Email: senator.mckenzie@aph.gov.auLet other people know about our situation
Talk to your neighbours and friends, repost messages from the Sarsfield Recreation Reserve and Community Facebook page.
Use the hashtag #whataboutsarsfield in your own social media posts.Join your local committee!
We’re a friendly bunch of people of all ages and backgrounds. Everyone is welcome – you can be a long-standing local resident or someone who’s just moved to the area recently.
There really is no pressure on committee members – if you don’t want to take something on, just don’t, and that’s 100% respected.
Some people only turn up when there’s something of interest for them, and that’s absolutely hunky-dory by the rest of the committee. Feel free to drop into a committee meeting just to see whether the above is true – we guarantee that it is.
