After meeting with several charities on Tuesday, March 10 with shadow minister Andrew Leigh, Fiona Phillips said she was concerned the Federal Government was "robbing Peter to pay Paul".

"They had an allocation of $76 million for tourism funding and they've redirected $25 million of that," Mrs Phillips said.

"I've got tourism operators on the ground that cannot see the money.

"The response to coronavirus is absolutely important, but don't take it away from where it's needed. This bushfire recovery is going to go on for years."

On January 19, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a $76 million tourism recovery fund in the wake of the bushfires.

"One in thirteen Australian jobs rely on tourism and hospitality so our $76 million investment is an urgent injection to help all those hotels, restaurants and cafes and tour operators get back on their feet," the PM said.

"This is make or break for many businesses and tourist hot spots and not just in those areas directly hit by the bushfires."

But The Cairns Post reported in late February the Government would direct $25 million from the $76 million fund into a marketing campaign centred around Far North Queensland.

National Bushfire Recovery Agency couldn't guarantee the $76 million allocated to bushfire recovery would not be used for coronavirus.

"At this stage that is the intent, but with significant tourism affect in bushfire areas it is likely there may be some opportunity to work across both areas of impact," a spokesperson told The Guardian Australia.

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Mrs Phillips also praised the charitable organisations for being quicker to distribute funds than the Federal Government.

"The thing that I see is that it has been the charities that have been there and actually helping people on the ground," Mrs Phillips said.

"And it was actually the charities that gave the first a lot of money and in many cases beat the government to it.

"Which, to be quite honest, is quite shameful."