CENTRELINK staff have been instructed to be more lenient with Victorian bushfire victims who are unable able to produce identification.
Victims, applying for emergency relief from Centrelink, are being asked for a driver's licence or bank statement to prove their identity.
But many of the victims have nothing to show, having lost all their possessions in the savage bushfires at the weekend.
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Federal Community Services Minister Jenny Macklin says she has spoken to Centrelink management about the issue, after The Australian newspaper published an open letter from one victim to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
"It is the case that if anybody needs cash immediately .... that can be done on the spot," she told ABC Radio.
"If people have documentation, of course, that helps but ... many people have lost all forms of identification."
Centrelink management will remind their staff at relief centres to be more lenient, Ms Macklin said.
Victims can seek relief of $1,000 for each adult and $400 for each dependent child.
AAP