Treasurer Wayne Swan disgusted by flood 'low lifes'

Australians who claimed emergency aid for flood victims when all they suffered was a power outage anger Wayne Swan / File Source: News Limited

Centrelink payments of $1000 for adults and $400 for children were available to people without means testing, even if the only ill-effect the disaster had on them was 48 hours without power.

Mr Swan told ABC Radio this morning that such people disgusted him.

"If there are people who have been eligible for the levy but haven't required it and have gone in and claimed it, I think they are simply low life," he said.

"People may face all sorts of extraordinary circumstances, they may not have personal identification.

"If we were to get really bureaucratic, with really rigid rules in the first 48 hours or so, then we would be having an entirely different discussion about how we were too rigid and weren't paying people who were in dire need."

For this reason, some people who weren't deserving of the payment would be able to get it, Mr Swan said.

"People in the community won't appreciate the behaviour of people like that, if there are people like that," he said.

"I've heard one or two stories as well and I've got nothing but disgust for people who do that."

Mr Swan told ABC radio that he believed there there was support for a levy to help fund the Queensland flood recovery but that he was happy to discuss a longer term response to disasters.

Mr Swan's comments came as the Government announced it would provide an extra $200,000 to help flood-affected Queenslanders access legal information and advice.

Attorney-General Robert McClelland said many lawyers were working across Queensland to ensure that people affected by the floods can access legal assistance.

Mr Swan was in Brisbane with Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Premier Anna Bligh yesterday when the Australian cricketers beat England to secure the one-day series.

He told ABC radio that most of the punters he spoke to at the Gabba were comfortable with the levy despite several polls showing the majority of Australians oppose it.

His comments came as independent senator Nick Xenophon accused the Federal Government's of offering only a band-aid solution to the damage in Queensland with the flood tax.

He said that he would prefer a broad discussion about how Australia deals with natural disasters into the future, including the potential for government insurance cover for events like floods.

Senator Xenophon is to be briefed by Labor this afternoon on the flood recovery package, which includes a levy on middle-income Australia that the opposition argues is unnecessary.