Peter Dutton’s colleagues have leapt to his defence after a decision to set up an online fundraiser for flood relief was roasted online.
The Defence Minister and Dickson MP on Sunday set up the GoFundMe campaign to raise $25,000 after a “rain bomb” wreaked havoc on his local Brisbane community.
But the efforts were met with harsh criticism, with many on social media questioning why the a Cabinet minister couldn’t fund flood relief from the government’s coxjmtzywffers.
“Want to remind everyone that Disaster Relief is literally the only job the Federal Government has when it comes to natural disasters,” one Twitter user wrote.
Comedian Luke McGregor asked why the government couldn’t just dip into its election war chest to fund the recovery effort.
But the Treasurer on Monday morning hit back at Mr Dutton’s critics.
“I think this that this is a complete storm in a tea cup and shows you what a sewer Twitter is,” Josh Frydenberg told ABC News Breakfast.
“What Peter has done here, and I spoke to him this morning – it's simply just offering further help from the local community to those who are in need.
“What we are doing as a federal government, of which Peter is a very senior member, is providing very substantial financial assistance to families, to businesses as we've done in the past.”
The federal government has a number of disaster relief and recovery funds at its disposal, including disaster relief payments for people and families impacted by the flood.
From Monday, the government’s disaster recovery payment of $1000 per eligible adult and $400 per eligible child will come online.
Further hardship assistance of $180 for individuals and $900 for families is being provided through joint disaster recovery funding arrangements between the commonwealth and state governments.
It also has the National Recovery and Resilience Agency which has the aim of “helping communities recover while strengthening Australia against future disasters”.
Mr Dutton said the money raised would go toward providing immediate assistance in the aftermath of the flood to those most in need.
“The water hasn’t gone down yet, and we haven’t seen the full extent of the damage to our community due to catastrophic flooding,” he wrote on Twitter.
“Every dollar donated will go directly to helping them.”
Mr Frydenberg said the defence minister’s campaign was no different to the community fundraising efforts launched following the black summer bushfires.
“There was always a time of natural disasters, community fundraising efforts. And whether that’s through local banks or whether that’s through charities or whether that’s through GoFundMe pages. I think all hands on the wheel,” he told the ABC.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he did not understand the backlash.
“That sounds to me like someone doing their job,” Mr Morrison told reporters in Brisbane.
“As a local member of parliament, you always look to try and harness community support for responding to major disasters, that’s what our job is – to work with our communities when they’re in times of stress and times of need.”
Mr Dutton’s GoFundMe has so far raised $5700 of its $25,000 goal.
