A QUEENSLAND MP caused confusion when he called on the Prime Minister to extend bushfire recovery grants to the Redlands, which was left mostly unscathed this fire season.
In January, the federal government announced it would provide payment to 42 of the most severely bushfire impacted councils in the country to help rebuild infrastructure and strengthen community resilience.
These included the Scenic Rim, Southern Downs, Noosa, Sunshine Coast and Livingstone council areas.
State Development Minister Cameron Dick said Prime Minister Scott Morrison should extend the $1 million grants to nine Queensland communities ravaged by bushfires, including Redlands.
His list also included Bundaberg, the Gold Coast, Gladstone, Gympie, Ipswich, the Lockyer Valley, Somerset and Toowoomba.
He said the communities had been gutted by Mr Morrison's failure to extend the grants.
"Increasing the grants from $1 million to up to $1.3 million is a welcome boost for the five Queensland communities and other Australian communities that the Prime Minister deemed fit to receive the grant," he said.
Mr Dick said Mr Morrison's announcement showed a lack of compassion and did not take into account the impacts and recovery needs of other communities that had been ravaged by the exact same bushfires.
But a council spokesperson said recent bushfires had not affected the Redlands.
"Obviously if the Redlands is impacted by such an event we would hope both the state and federal government would provide support to help us recover (but) council's understanding is that the federal government funding announced in January is for those councils impacted by the recent bushfires."
Redlands Labor MP Kim Richards said Queensland Fire and Emergency Services had attended 147 local bushfire incidents between August and January.
"Our Redlands region should not be ignored when it faces similar challenges to other Queensland regions when impacted by natural disasters, which is why we are lobbying for Redlands to have access to the same federal government support when we need it," she said.
But a QFES spokeswoman said none of these blazes had been significant or had threatened structures. The 147 incidents had included small blazes like median strip fires.
Oodgeroo LNP MP Mark Robinson did not respond to questions about whether he thought the Redlands needed bushfire recovery funding this season, but said before calling for federal grants the state government should spend its current budget funding for fuel load reduction.
LGAQ chief executive Greg Hallam said Queensland councils deserved equal treatment.
"The Commonwealth ... should be supporting all communities in their recovery, not just some."
The council spokesperson said while the Redlands had not been affected by recent fires, the region had been identified as eligible for regional tourism bushfire recovery grants after the North Stradbroke Island fires in September.
"Council is working to support our community through eligible events and initiatives based on the details of this grant funding conditions and requirements."
