Residents of Alpine Shire Council will have the chance to reflect and remember the impact of this year’s devastating bushfires with the area to share in $2.5 million to create memorials, Member for Northern Victoria Region, Candy Broad said today.
Ms Broad said Alpine Shire Council would receive $103,273 for a memorial.
“The Brumby Labor Government is taking action to help Victoria communities recover from the devastating bushfires,” Ms Broadsaid.
“The Alpine Shire community was hurt by this year’s bushfires, and these memorials will be an important part of the recovery process.
"This funding will provide residents in Alpine Shire with the chance to reflect and remember the impact of the devastating bushfires and is an important part of the recovery process.”
Community Development Minister Peter Batchelor said memorials could be physical monuments, gardens, open spaces for reflection, landscaping, sculptures, or a commemorative event.
“Funding can be used to create community memorials to remember the bushfire events, to support communities to acknowledge the scale, impact and loss as well as to acknowledge their pride and resilience during recovery,” Mr Batchelor said.
“Alpine Shire Council will work together with residents to determine what sort of memorials might be appropriate and where they might be.”
The Victorian and Commonwealth Governments jointly established the Community Recovery Fund in February for communities affected by the bushfires, each committing $5 million.
The Community Recovery Fund has already allocated $3 million for a Community Sports Recovery Fund.
Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Bushfire Recovery Reconstruction Bill Shorten said 19 councils would receive funding, and remembering the devastation caused by the fires was an important part of the recovery process.
“How a community chooses to remember is up to them, we want the final decision on how many memorials there are, and what form they take, to be made by local communities,” Mr Shorten said.
“The courage and commitment to rebuilding of bushfire affected towns across Victoria is inspirational.
“We will continue to support these towns recover, and I believe these memorials will be a fitting and necessary commemoration of the events of February.”