The Abbott government has tightened the eligibility requirements for bushfire victims to receive recovery funds in a move that Labor has described as ''heartless'' and ''an absolute nonsense''.
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People who have been cut off from their homes or who have no electricity have not been deemed eligible in the first round of disaster payments determined by Justice Minister Michael Keenan.
On Friday, the Coalition announced that it would deliver ''much-needed assistance'' to those affected by the devastating NSW bushfires by making the government's disaster recovery payment available.
The scheme, which has existed in its current form since 2007, provides eligible adults with $1000 each and children with $400.
So far for the NSW bushfires, the money will go to people whose homes have been destroyed or significantly damaged, and to those who have been seriously injured or who have had an immediate family member killed.
But shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus has questioned why the Coalition has not included those who are cut off from their homes, despite a history of Labor including the group in the disaster payments.
When the Gillard government activated the scheme for the Tasmanian bushfires and tropical cyclone Oswald earlier this year, it extended funds to those who could not get to their homes for at least 24 hours because access had been cut off, to people who had been stranded at home for at least 24 hours or who had been without electricity or water for a continuous 48 hours.
''Mr Keenan has heartlessly removed assistance for people who have been cut off from their homes for more than 24 hours, or been without water or electricity for 48 hours,'' Mr Dreyfus said.
''Now is not the time for the government to be reducing assistance for NSW residents who need it most.''
A spokeswoman for Mr Keenan said the government had set up the payment so that it would reach those most in need, most quickly. She explained the bushfire situation was still unfolding and that as it became clearer, the payment might be extended to other categories.
''First and foremost we have to release payments to people who need it immediately,'' she said.
Labor's spokesman for human services, Doug Cameron, who was on the ground in the bushfire-affected Blue Mountains, described the Coalition's reasoning as an ''absolutely pathetic excuse''.
Senator Cameron said some of the people he had spoken to in recent days had no access to cash and had children without uniforms and shoes for school.
He said that people who had been cut off from their homes needed funds to help access food, prescription drugs and clothing.
This came as Prime Minister Tony Abbott spent the weekend volunteering with his local Davidson Rural Fire Brigade. Overnight on Saturday, he spent 14 hours around Bilpin on back burning.
