DISPLACEMENT CONTINUES
The summer of 2019-20 was devastating for Australia. Hundreds of fires resulted in communities destroyed and many deaths nationally, as well as huge losses of land and wildlife being recorded.
In wake of the COVID-19 international operation, attention has been conveniently diverted away from recovery efforts, while the mainstream media is no longer reporting about those still affected.
The Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) have released a new report detailing 25,000 displacements in Australia between January 1 and December 31 2019 due to disasters. An estimated 18,000 remain displaced after the catastrophic 2019/20 bushfire season.
A spokesperson for IDMC told reporters that the majority of these individuals were displaced by the severe bushfire season, which ravaged much of the country from mid-2019 until March this year.
In the aftermath of the bushfires, critics of government recovery efforts argue the cash grants made available to bushfire survivors were too small, not flexible enough and took too long to approve.
RELATED:
Bushfire Aftermath:
The Australian Land Grab
They also say the criteria for granting them too restrictive, with the $1,000 grants made only available to people who were at “imminent risk of not being able to pay their bills”. This caused a lot of angst and distressed for affected Australians.
Last week, the federal government announced an additional $650 million will be added to a new bushfire recovery program, following months of argument over the wait for assistance.
However, given the commitment is another element of the $2 billion bushfire recovery fund, which was described as “notional” at a senate inquiry, many aren’t holding their breath over the PR stunt.
Labor dismissed the bushfire fund as a “made up” program and accused the government of taking too long to spend the money.
More information will be revealed when the royal commission begins public hearings on 25 May and is due to make recommendations in August. As a result of COVID-19, the commission will narrow its focus to national coordination arrangements and mitigation methods.
We will finally be able to hear accounts of how the structures in place for delivering emergency aid were too restrictive and led to delays in cash being made available, which caused further financial hardship and damage for struggling Australians to contend with.
No doubt, the odds have been stacked against vulnerable Australians since day one.
CHARITIES: THE DEEPER ROLE
The federal government isn’t the only entity that has denied Australians a lifeline during this crisis, with many charities facing national backlash after announcements they would keep most donations.
Despite this, in the wake of COVID-19, the same charities are now reporting that they need assistance to make it through the ‘crisis’ — pleading to the government for assistance:
Can you believe this? The audacity of charities that withheld tens of millions of dollars from bushfire victims now turning around and playing the victim card. Take a walk, folks.
Amidst the controversy, it has now been announced that a new not-for-profit working group will advise the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission on ways to “mitigate the social and economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the most vulnerable Australians”.
The commission on Friday revealed that the new Charity, Philanthropy and Fundraising Advisory Group would be led by UNICEF Australia boss, Tony Stuart.
RELATED:
Bushfire donations:
Where is the money?
Importantly, he will be supported by NCCC commissioner Jane Halton, in which the advisory group will work to identify opportunities for not-for-profits to ‘contribute’ to the community in the rebuilding phase of the pandemic.
Why is this important? Halton is the current chair of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation, better known as CEPI. CEPI was established in 2017 as part of a coordinated, international plan to develop and deploy new vaccines to prevent future epidemics.
Remember, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have been large investors in CEPI’s vaccine development programs. Halton also attended the infamous Event 201 conference in New York City.
In addition, the new bushfire group will be joined by the following list of individuals:
That’s right, some of the biggest players in the not-for-profit sector — including from the treacherous charities that are seeking assistance — will all come together to discuss the fallout of COVID-19.
What a clown show. It is now obvious that both the Australian bushfires and their disgraceful recovery efforts were nothing more than a calculated attempt to destroy regional locations in anticipation for Agenda 2030. The lockdowns that followed would all but seal their fate.
COVID-19 AND AGENDA 2030
The Agenda 2030 plan calls for a ‘sustainable model’ that introduces further measures of control on all facets of life under the guise of combatting ‘unpreventable’ conditions in the future.
Behind the smoke-and-mirrors, the document is a calculated way to remodel countries of the world by crushing regional locations and forcing the victims into highly-populated areas. This will allow for the fulfilment of national smart city plans and more.
Let’s not forget, in October 2019, the United Nations called for an overhaul of the world trade system to help achieve this target. Not long after, the bushfires and COVID-19 occurred.
The ‘virus’ has certainly prevented regional Australia the opportunity for an effective recovery, as tourism and regional businesses were already screaming for people to visit after the bushfires.
“We need you here, come back!” was the call, as towns reliant on tourism, especially since peak during the summer school holidays suffered an avalanche of cancellations.
Coronavirus has now had staggering impact on Australian businesses. The true extent of economic impact is mostly speculative at this stage, but is expected to be substantial. Over the coming months, businesses are expected to respond reduced revenue when support nets leave.
The world reached a record 50.8 million internally displaced people last year, according to the report IDMC, which warned of the additional threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
What is known is that economic impacts will not be evenly distributed across the country and across industries. This means some sectors and some communities will be more disrupted than others.
Spare a thought for our brothers and sisters in regional Australia. We stand with you, family.
RELATED CONTENT
Australians among a record 50.8 million internally displaced people worldwide | ABC News
Bushfire Aftermath: The Australian Land Grab | TOTT News
Bushfire donations: Where is the money? | TOTT News
Media release: Bushfire Fund revealed as a myth | Fiona Phillips
Coronavirus threatens to leave charities and non-profit sector ‘paralysed’ | 7 News
Not-for-profit sector to advise National COVID-19 Coordination Commission on impacts of pandemic on the vulnerable | The Mandarin
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there are a number of Balmoral Village residents who will be taking legal action against the government down the track > on the 18th of dec RFS crews lit seabrook road fire trail up , the day before extreme fire weather conditions predicted , 3 of my immediate neighbours lost there places , if we didn’t stay and defend id have lost mine also. the strangest thing was as the fire approached us about 11am there was not a helicopter or plane around for maybe three hours , yet the media were there capturing every moment. I am effected by ptsd and bi polar since . the worst part this was deliberately allowed to blow out at balmoral by RFS controllers. its disgusting this hidden agenda the government have .
Ever since Covid-19 came about you haven’t heard a word about the bushfire recovery efforts in fact I doubt many people even remember the whole bushfire saga that occurred several months ago despite millions of dollars being raised from across the global and not to mention that Liveaid concert held back in February, talk about the perfect smokescreen!
just by looking at the list of “commission” members, you can see exactly what & whose agenda they are working towards, and its not for hard working everyday Aussies like us.
the Covid chair is a former mining ceo, the Covid ceo is a former telstra ceo, WTF would either of them know anything about viruses or even hardship of living on a minimum wage or on dole payments?
Scomo’s dreamteam for Covid is just a ridiculous as the Covid modelling & analysis he gets from economists (yes this is real) instead of actual virologists & medical experts to combat the crisis, what a clusterf**k this is going to be.
on a side note, notice how almost all CEO’s of the listed NGO’s are female & who support the Gender Pay Gap dillusion thrust onto us by commissioner Libby Lyons on the public purse getting over $200K to push the BS, just see how it all comes together?
the so called bush fire Royal Commission won’t address any real issues of negligence or dereliction of duty by those in charge & find a scapegoat like they did for the Ruby Princess “fallgirl” who had no legal or designated authority to decide if passengers can or cannot leave the ship, where’s the accountability on that case? it will probably make recommendations for “future” preparedness, etc, but no findings of fault with governance or unqualified decisions made by those in charge. Probably get a fall guy/girl to cop the blame, again.
Unless the general public organise, protest & strike in vast numbers (including police & medical workers), the current Govt will push ever single dystopian “measure” that would leave China’s system of population control look like an enviable free society in comparison.
peace