Liberty contributes to bushfire relief

The donation was made to the Australian Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery fund, assisting emergency response teams with resources to provide a wide range of disaster support measures.

The fund aims to help provide immediate and practical assistance to affected communities, including psychological first aid, shelter and cash grants.

Additionally, the fund also covers the cost of volunteer training, equipment and transport, as well as the coordination effort to ensure support is available where the community needs it most.

In addition to its initial $250,000 contribution, Liberty is calling on its community of staff, family, customers and business partners to also support bushfire relief efforts, and has pledged to match any community contributions up to a further $100,000 – taking its total contribution to $350,000.

Liberty chief executive James Boyle said, “The heart of the Liberty team was heavy with the tragedy and devastating destruction caused by the bushfires.” 

“We are grateful to all the volunteers and emergency services personnel who are taking great risk to fight fires in order to save lives and homes. 

“We know that without their heroic efforts, the toll on our communities and our native animals would be much higher,” he said.

Mr Boyle said that the safety and wellbeing of customers was first and foremost, and urged customers impacted to contact the lender via phone, email or Facebook.

“We will do whatever we can to help customers who are dealing with the aftermath of the fires,” Mr Boyle said.

“The message to our customers is that we are here to help, just call us.” 

Industry initiatives for bushfire relief

Liberty is one of many organisations that have pledged to donate to bushfire-affected communities, frontline services and relief organisations.

Earlier this week, mortgage protection provider ALI Group committed to donate $50 to local volunteer and emergency services for every loan and mortgage protection policy arranged by an authorised broker in January and February.

Further, several leading brokerages, aggregators and industry associations have jointly launched a Bushfire Broker Appeal via the Red Cross, to help support those in need during the active bushfire emergencies.

Since launching on 6 January, the appeal has raised over $30,000 and is aiming to achieve at least $100,000.

It is expected that this target will be extended as more sponsors come on board.

The big four banks have also made significant donation pledges to support individuals and local communities affected by bushfires.

NAB initially promised a $1-million support package; however, the bank has since increased its contributions to $5 million.

CBA and ANZ have both created donation packages of $1 million, while Westpac announced a $1.5-million fund.

There have been many additional fundraisers and appeals set up by charities, organisations and individuals as well as the Broker Bushfire Appeal, including:

• Red Cross
• Salvation Army
• NSW Rural Fire Service
• QLD Fire and Rescue
• SA Country Fire Service
• VIC Country Fire Authority
• Tasmania Fire Service
• Western Australia
• WWF
• AFCA bushfire disaster support

[Related: ALI pledges profit share to bushfire aid]