The Sydney Morning Herald, 10 January 2019:
Confused and angry locals doing it tough in bushfire-ravaged NSW towns have been denied government relief payments due to outdated maps and technicalities.
Upset residents told The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Nine News they applied for the $1000 tax-free disaster recovery payment, only for Centrelink to knock it back because their "guide maps" showing the fire zone were out of date.
And several workers on the NSW South Coast whose employers have closed or reduced staffing levels due to a combination of fires, power outages, road closures and evacuations said they were also rejected by Centrelink.
Mogo resident Melinda Evans said she had been told by four Centrelink workers she was "not in the area [affected by bushfires] ... They're looking at their own map but if you look around here you can tell we're in the thick of it".
On New Year's Eve, fire tore through her rural property, destroying sheds and fences and affecting the health of Ms Evans' young son Michael.
"His breathing's terrible, he's stuffy, he's got a cough. There's nothing else we can do about it, there's nowhere else we can go."....
Read the full article here.
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