ANNA Bligh has promised to overhaul payments from her disaster fund after accusations it was being strangled by red tape.
Premier Bligh last night announced the overhaul after The Courier-Mail continued investigations into the apparent slow allocation of more than $220 million of funds.
A large team of public servants from the Communities Department will now be deployed to help fast-track cash payments to within 72 hours of claim approval.
Ms Bligh said late last night she made the decision after visiting the Lockyer Valley last Sunday and finding too many people had waited too long for payments.
For case studies of claims to the Premier's Disaster Relief fund see today's print edition of The Courier-Mail.
"I'm not satisfied with the speed in which this is happening so I directed my department to hold talks with Centrelink," she said. "There are now new arrangements in place."
Ms Bligh had not mentioned any restructure in media interviews yesterday as public anger grew about the administration of the fund.
The Communities Department will now verify homes were inundated within 48 hours of receiving the claim.
Centrelink will then pay out the money within 24 hours of that confirmation.
"This should dramatically speed up the payment process," Ms Bligh said.
"Additionally we have put in place new arrangements to speed up claims from the Lockyer Valley."
The change follows accusations only three public servants were dealing with thousands of applications for compensation from flood and cyclone damage.
Numerous Queenslanders seeking compensation from the fund have complained of hitting a bureaucratic brick wall.
Opposition Leader John-Paul Langbroek yesterday labelled the Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal a bureaucratic disaster.
"It is our understanding there are just three people inside the Department of Premier and Cabinet handling applications," he said. "Ms Bligh has more staff assigned to marketing her media image than to assisting victims of the Queensland flood."
Centrelink, which is the central agency responsible for processing claims, last night said it had paid out more than 5600 out of 18,000 claims worth more than $13.1 million.
A Centrelink spokesman made it clear the hold-up in meeting further claims was from the State Government.
"Of the outstanding claims, the majority require further information from the Queensland Government before they can be finalised to ensure they meet the eligibility criteria set by the Queensland Government," he said.
"We understand that the Queensland Government is working hard to obtain this information quickly."
The estimated $220 million fund swells daily as more money arrives and interest estimated at around 6 per cent per annum pours in.
Frustrated Chelmer resident Kathryn Stafford said she had no one left to turn to after making 64 phone calls chasing her application for cash and being bumped between bureaucracies in two states.
"People have donated a lot of money to this fund and I'm sure they wouldn't like to hear that it's not getting to victims," she said. "There must be thousands of others like us."
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd warned more than a month ago the first problem governments would face in rebuilding Queensland was public frustration with red tape.
Following the Victorian bushfires Mr Rudd helped appoint "case managers" to steer disaster victims through the bureaucratic maze.
By March 13, 2009, just under five weeks after the Victorian bushfires struck, then-Victorian premier John Brumby announced more than $180 million of the Victorian fund which reached around $400 million had been allocated.
David Hamill, who heads the Queensland fund said its reach and responsibilities far exceeded the Victorian bushfires or Cyclone Larry.
Dr Hamill, who is not paid for his role, said potentially fraudulent claims along with the sheer volume of applications which have reached up to 1000 a day in the past fortnight was making the job challenging.
