Information for frontline staff

Service NSW Bushfire Customer Care Service

To help individuals and businesses impacted by bushfires access essential government services, information is now available in one location.

The Service NSW Bushfire customer care service has specialists who can provide ongoing personalised support. They can help with:

• bushfire clean up registration
• mental health and wellbeing
• small business advice
• accommodation
• financial assistance
• insurance and legal advice
• services provided by the Australian Government.

Specialists can assist over the phone on 13 77 88, or in-person at any Service NSW Centre, Mobile Service Centres or Bushfire Recovery Centres.

For more information, visit the Bushfire customer care service website.

Bushfire Recovery Assistance

The NSW Office of Emergency Management Disaster Assistance website provides information on a range of assistance measures for people affected by bushfire. These measures are aimed at providing immediate and short term relief.

For a summary of assistance measures, please read the Bushfire Recovery Assistance Information factsheet.

Bushfire Housing Assistance Service

The Bushfire Housing Assistance Service has been established to support people who are temporarily or permanently displaced as a result of the NSW bushfires.

The Bushfire Housing Assistance Service can help with:

• emergency temporary accommodation
• assistance with a private rental bond and advance rent costs
• sourcing accommodation options from the private rental and short term housing sector
• assistance with sourcing accommodation options in the customer’s local communities or in areas where they have family or local networks.

To access the service, people can:

• Call the Disaster Welfare Assistance Line on 1800 018 444.
• Contact or visit their local Department of Communities and Justice Housing office. Local housing office details can be found on the Find a Housing Office page.

Legal help

LawAccess NSW & Legal Aid NSW are working in partnership to provide free legal help to people affected by the bushfires in NSW.

Matters they can assist with include, if:

• a person’s home has been damaged by floods or fire (help is available to both owner and tenant)
• a person has insurance or repair problems
• a person’s job has been affected by the floods or fires
• a person needs help renegotiating credit commitments due to loss of income from the disaster.

To get assistance, call the Disaster Response Legal Service NSW on 1800 801 529.

More information is available on the Legal Aid NSW website.

Courthouse closures

Court staff will be contacted by their manager if courthouses are likely to be impacted or closed as a result of bushfire.

Court users can call the Court Service Centre from 8.30am–4.30pm weekdays on 1300 679 272 for information on closures and new court dates if matters are adjourned.

They can also find information on closures published on the Courts and Tribunals page of the department’s website, and the department’s Facebook and Twitter pages as it becomes available.

NSW Trustee and Guardian emergency contacts

Some people with disability or illness may also be clients of NSW Trustee & Guardian.

If they are a financial management client of NSW Trustee and impacted by bushfire, NSW Trustee can assist them to:

• access additional funds
• pay for alternative or emergency accommodation
• manage any insurance claim or urgent building repairs
• apply for commonwealth or state emergency payments.

NSW Trustee can be contacted on 02 8688 2600.

If a person is under guardianship of the Public Guardian and impacted by bushfire, the Public Guardian can make decisions relating to:

• accessing alternative or emergency accommodation
• services needed to support the person under guardianship
• medical or dental treatment.

The Public Guardian can be contacted on 02 8688 2650.

For more information on NSW Trustee & Guardian services, including trust beneficiaries, beneficiaries of deceased estates, or tenants of a life residency or call 02 8688 2600.