Templeman angry that Hawkesbury was left out of the Regional Recovery Partnerships

Evidence heard in Senate Estimates on Monday, October 19, revealed the National Bushfire Recovery Agency was not consulted on which regions should qualify for the millions of dollars of money available through the Regional Recovery Partnerships.

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack announced the $100 million partnership last month and said the areas were chosen "because they are regions whose economies have experienced the brunt of natural events such as bushfires or COVID-19, drought as well".

Deputy Coordinator of the National Bushfire Recovery Agency, Rina Bruinsma said during Senate Estimates that, "We did not provide advice on the modelling or the analysis that went into the selection of those regions".

Labor MPs are furious that some of the countries worst-affected regions had been left off the list of recipients, including the Hawkesbury and Blue Mountains

Ms Templeman said the Blue Mountains took a $66 million hit to its economy and the Hawkesbury $33 million from the bushfires alone.

"That was all in the space of a couple of months, on the back of drought, yet neither of these areas were chosen to be part of this $100 million fund," she said.

"These weren't captain's picks, these were vice captain's picks. And that vice captain, the Deputy Prime Minister, is the man who thinks a $30 million deal for a $3 million block of land in Western Sydney is a great deal.

"So you've really got to question; how is this Deputy Prime Minister choosing these regions? What's the criteria? My local tourism industry want to know why the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury have missed out."