'No one is being bad about this': Celeste Barber calls in lawyers over $52m RFS donation

Celeste Barber's $52 million NSW Rural Fire Service donation has yet to help a single person. Photo / Getty Images

Comedian Celeste Barber made headlines all over the world with her record-breaking bushfire appeal, which raised $52 million for the NSW Rural Fire Service.

However, no one has yet received any money and now lawyers for Barber and the NSW Rural Fire Service have been called in to try and come up with a solution.

Hey billionaires, Notre Dame burning down sucked. I get it. Times that by a trillion and that’s what’s happening in Australia. Feel free to flick us a quick couple of million. You make it seem pretty easy. https://t.co/HHemX5P3KM

— Celeste barber (@celestebarber_) January 7, 2020

The money has been locked under RFS rules that dictate donations must be spent on firefighting equipment and training, not on families or charities, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

RFS spokesman Ben Shepherd says the service wants to distribute the money according to Barber's wishes, and lawyers will work to find a way.

"No one is being bad about this, it's all very amicable, and we will try and see her wishes through," he told the Sunday Telegraph.

Celeste Barber's $52 million NSW Rural Fire Service donation has yet to help a single person. Photo / Getty Images

"But, as it stands, the RFS is the beneficiary and we can't donate money people gave us to other charities."

Barber is preparing to host the big Fire Fight Australia bushfire relief concert in Sydney today.

It will feature performances from Queen + Adam Lambert, Olivia Newton-John, kd lang and Alice Cooper.

Profits from the concert will go to the Red Cross disaster relief and recovery fund, rural and regional fire services, as well as the RSPCA bushfire appeal.