A West Australian Liberal politician has criticised his own government for its poor performance in cleaning up Yarloop since it was almost wiped out by a massive bushfire in January.
Four months since the fires, which destroyed nearly 200 properties, only a few houses and the town's hospital had been cleared while 100 people lived in the town, Murray-Wellington Liberal MP Michael Cowper said.
"Unfortunately the clean-up around Yarloop is far too slow for my liking, we need to get some momentum into this," he said in a Facebook message posted while he visited Yarloop.
"$12 million has been allocated for it and I would have expected this place to be like a beehive not a morgue.
"Not a lot has happened in nearly four months since the post-fire."
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Mr Cowper spoke to the town's only publican, Yarloop Hotel proprietor Greg Burton who found out last week that the gutted pub would not be cleared but his house at the back would because the conditions of the WA government's clean-up applied to homes but not businesses.
It is still standing, meaning Mr Burton still has to pay public liability insurance.
"The longer it takes the more money that comes out of our pocket which in turn means we won't have enough to rebuild the hotel ... we're unsure where we're gonna go now," Mr Burton said.
Emergency Services Minister Joe Francis said the recovery co-ordinator and former WA governor Ken Michael had to contact every property owner for permission to access their site, which was slowing the clean-up.
Many residents had left town and the state, he said.
