A funding announcement for flood victims has been slammed by a man who confronted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese regarding his whereabouts in the week since the town of Eugowra was devastated by floods.
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During the PM's one-and-a-half hour visit to the flood-ravaged community of roughly 700 people, Mr Albanese made a stop in at the Eugowra post office which has now reopened.
Outside the building, Anthony Robinson, who works for a plasterer in town, addressed both Mr Albanese and NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet about the government's response to the disaster.
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"There's quite a few residents in town in their 70s on the pension and to be honest, nobody is giving them a loan to rebuild," Mr Robinson said.
"My boss has lost everything and I don't know if I've got a job to go back to, so nobody is giving me a loan to rebuild. I just want to know what we're going to get from the government to help rebuild."
After being told by the prime minister that the government would be giving "whatever support" it could, Mr Robinson addressed the nine days it took for Mr Albanese to visit Eugowra.
"Not to get off on a bad foot or a wrong foot, but ... Where have you been sir. Where have you been the last week," the plasterer said.
In response, the prime minister said he had been "representing Australia." Among other things, Mr Albanese met China's President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit. The 30-minute meeting happened on the afternoon of Tuesday, November 15, one day after floods ravaged through towns such as Eugowra.
"I've come straight away, as soon as I could," Mr Albanese added.
"I was in touch with Dom and we have had the deputy primer minister here, who was acting prime minister, we've had emergency services and the ADF were here."
Following his discussion, Mr Robinson said it had been a "dream" of his to meet a politician, "regardless of which side of the office" they were.
"Politics is a real big hobby of mine and I speak politician fluently, so I thought I'd try and get a point across to see what they were thinking," he added.
"I'm just worried about the people who are on the pension and don't have the money to rebuild, that's who I'm most worried about."
Later on Tuesday morning, Mr Albanese announced grants of up to $50,000 for small businesses and not-for-profit organisations affected by ongoing flooding in NSW. He noted the first $25,000 of which could be paid "very quickly" and a further $25,000 upon receipts being shown.
While Mr Robinson was appreciative that some funding had been announced, he believed the prime minister has missed the big picture.
"It's going to help some people but like I keep on saying, it's not going to help the retirees or the people who were employed by those small businesses to help rebuild. It's something, but it's really nothing to most of the town," he said.
Mr Robinson said that while his employer should benefit from the grants, it was the housing situation which should have been addressed first.
"To be honest, I haven't even discussed with him work-related stuff. We're still trying to piece together accommodation," he added.
"When they told me they were going to make a funding announcement and then I found out what it was, my immediate thought was 'really, that was the big announcement?' Accommodation is the main thing, that's what should be getting sorted."
The prime minister's visit to Eugowra lasted roughly 90 minutes with Mr Albanese arriving at 8.30am and departing just before 10am.
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