More than half of Australians (53 per cent) were opposed to the ACT Government’s scheme for compensating the fire victims.
Under the scheme, uninsured home owners who lost their homes were paid $10,000 but insured home owners got $5000.
More than a third (35 per cent) supported the scheme and the rest had no opinion, according to a survey done by AAMI insurance. Nearly a half of Canberrans (46 per cent) supported the scheme.
People who objected to the scheme generally thought it was unfair that the payments were not uniform and that the scheme discriminated against people who were insured.
Reasons for supporting the scheme ranged from “It helps people to recover – they still need help” to “Not everyone can afford insurance”.