As the clean up continues after weekend fires ravaged the south-west, it is questions of insurance that are at the forefront of many farmers minds.
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“Yes, insurance is normally number one at the front of mind for many of our farmers at the moment,” said rural finance chief David Stafford.
“Getting everything back into some sort of semblance of organisation as far as farming goes, like fencing and finding stock and assessing what’s occurred damage-wise, and then there’s questions around insurance and how it works.
“When you’re stressed, conversations around a complicated insurance policy is hard so our counsellors can come in and support them through that process as a first step so they can maybe find out exactly what it’s about.”
Mr Stafford is the executive officer at Rural Financial Counselling Services.
The group are part of the package assembled by the Victorian Farmers Federation in offering disaster relief to farmers affected by the fires.
They manage a 24-hour counselling service hotline.
“If you’re stressed and not sure where to go, give us a call,” Mr Stafford said. “We can help you work through the issues you’re currently facing, be it emotional, business support, family support, or to ask us to call on other services.”
Mr Stafford said the hotline would gather momentum as emergency situations steadied.
“I think people are still in emergency mode,” he said. “Our experience with bush fires is that it sometimes takes a week or two before people come back to us to talk about what the long-term ramifications are.
“Then we’ll have a chat about what business decisions they need to make and what support they can get around that.”
Mr Stafford said most farmers would be currently asking themselves if they had insurance and what it covers.
“They think ‘I’ve got some sort of insurance but what am I going to get? ‘ that sort of thing,” he said. “But it’s important to know that if you haven’t got insurance there is some relief funding available through the government.
“At the moment it’s about awareness and letting people know we’re there and able to talk.”
For assistance call 1300 735 578.