Fire victims 'had to jump through hoops'

It took seven weeks for the Sarsfield couple to be approved for the disaster recovery allowance, which provided income support for 13 weeks.

"We had to jump through hoops like you wouldn't believe," she told the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements.

Ms Giles said at one point, two staff from federal government agency Services Australia rang her at the same time, asking for two different things.

"I thought: 'I can't cope with this, I can't do this'," she said in a pre-recorded video played at Thursday's hearing.

The couple said they did not have the sort of income projections that were required, because the flower farm was a seasonal business.

Mr Giles told one government staffer: "Look mate, you know there's nothing I would want more than to be down my paddock, picking my flowers and sending them to market, earning my own money, being independent like we always have, than be on the phone begging for $250."

Another Services Australia staffer helped work through the issues and the couple were approved for the grant.

"It was the hardest money we've ever earnt, to get that," said Mr Giles, who suffered a burn to his arm while trying to defend their property.

They had some insurance cover and have received a Victorian small business grant, along with funds from organisations like the Red Cross.

Ms Giles said they also managed to get a farm household allowance for primary producers so they could stay on the property and rebuild, but the $250 a week did not go far when there were business expenses to be paid.

The Giles are now living in a caravan on their East Gippsland property, determined to rebuild their home and flower farm that the bushfire wiped out shortly after Christmas.

But it will take years before the farm is fully operational again.

"We're talking about seven years, I reckon, before we're back to earning an income off this land," Ms Giles said.

Australian Associated Press