RoR Lismore: flood survivors to meet weekly on Lismore floodplain

Frustrated survivors of last year’s devastating floods in Lismore are to meet weekly on the floodplain indefinitely while their struggle for bureaucratic transparency in the official recovery process continues.

Reclaim our Recovery (RoR) Lismore said around 50 people went to a ‘community conversations’ public gathering in South Lismore earlier this month that member Antoinette O’Brien described afterwards as a ‘people’s assembly’.

A smaller group of between 15-25 people met again last Wednesday, founding member Andrew George said, with weekly Wednesday meetings at the same floodplain venue to continue indefinitely.

Members last week were trying to work out what to do next after sending a letter to key politicians and bureaucratic leaders outlining their concerns.

Mr George said RoR sent ‘a big letter’ after the ‘community conversations’ session to the NSW Reconstruction Authority, local members, state ministers for emergency services and planning, the Federal Member for Page, federal minister for emergency management, and Lismore City councillors.

Calls for greater transparency and data

‘To start with, we sent them exactly what happened at the conversations because they need to be accountable to the people that were there,’ Mr George said.

The RoR members said government and bureaucratic transparency on decisions made as part of official recovery grants and support programs was still the group’s main desire.

‘People really want better transparency about the buybacks and about the whole reconstruction effort,’ Mr George said.

The founding RoR member said data on what else, specifically, people wanted transparency about would be useful.

‘I think that’s pretty straightforward,’ he said, it’s like, going to shopping malls and just asking people, this kind of thing, doing an online survey’.

‘When we know specifically what people expect and want for transparency, we can go take that to the Reconstruction Authority,’ he said.

‘We don’t know how exactly we’ll try and force that to happen but the words “direct action” came up quite a lot,’ he said.

Flood survivors ‘pretty incensed’ about boarded up empty houses

The members didn’t elaborate on examples of direct action, with RoR still working out how to manage itself in terms of how decisions for the group would be made.

But Ms O’Brien said the group had been very creative in its lobbying to date, including ‘rallies, even street dancers who did a very big assembly in the mall’.

‘There was talk of another event, which would be like a street event,’ Ms O’Brien said, ‘as well as what sort of direct action we’d actually take with the empty houses’.

Empty flood damaged houses can be seen throughout Lismore, South Lismore and elsewhere around the Wilsons River, which peaked at around fourteen metres in February last year.

Ms O’Brien said people were ‘pretty incensed’ about seeing boarded up and empty houses.

‘I spoke recently with some people down by Dawson Street, and they were actually relieved to see that there was somebody just occupying a house that they were quite concerned was going to end up damaged or was at risk of being burned,’ Ms O’Brien said.

The Lismore resident said making events that highlighted to people ‘who are having these conversations that we can come together’ was key.

‘Whether it’s around a People’s Assembly and a conversation or whether it’s around food and an event that then carries on,’ she said, ‘so that we are seen and heard’.

‘But the continual and varied approach that RoR has made has been very effective and actually has had results,’ Ms O’Brien said,’so keeping that momentum up, I think, is a priority and what we’re focused on’.

Mr George said other ideas to have emerged from the meetings so far included a group going ‘down to Sydney, maybe with Janelle Saffin, to advocate for the region’.

‘People are feeling that they’re not being heard up here and that we can be louder down there,’ he said.

Another idea was to ‘definitely continue with another community conversation, to hone in on things’.

From Nimbin’s rainforest to corporate law, local disaster recovery unites

Members to have joined the group recently suggested a broad variety of backgrounds and experiences, with the local disaster the one overriding connection.

A corporate lawyer called Michael went to last week’s meeting, Mr George said, ‘because him and [fellow member] John, they kind of want to support people in the legal, illegal housing buyback scenario’.

‘Rio’s pretty young,’ he said, ‘about 20, early 20s, and really enjoyed last Wednesday’s conversations and wants to be part of, support, the local community’.

‘He has just moved into East Lismore after living the life in Nimbin,’ he said of Rio, ‘and so just keen to be part of a group that’s advocating for something positive’.

‘Paul is a longtime local, was very involved in Bentley blockades and all this kind of thing,’ Mr George said.

‘He’s a big volunteer with Resilient Lismore as well but he’s keen to come along, expressed that he’d be happy to help organize bands for future events and like, kind of get stuff done when we need stuff getting done for future conversations.’

The RoR Lismore group was to meet every Wednesday from 4.30 at The Wherehouse, 23 Newbridge St, South Lismore.

‘Find us on the lower floor of the building at the end furthest from the street,’ the group’s invitation read.

Meetings are followed by a ‘pot-luck’ or ‘bring a plate’ dinner, Mr George said.

Mr George said other community recovery groups were continuing to lobby for greater transparency in other parts of the Northern Rivers and would work together wherever possible towards that aim.