Northern Rivers community groups are renewing calls for the NSW premier to formally ask the Commonwealth to fully fund the region’s 2022 disaster recovery.
The revived call comes in response to revelations the prime minister has written to Byron Shire Mayor Michael Lyon confirming his willingness to support the project.
‘While NSW has not yet submitted a request to cost-share Tranche Two, I stand ready to consider a new request from the Premier of NSW,’ Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has written.
Figures from the NSW Reconstruction Authority earlier this month showed six buyback offers approved and five offers accepted under the Resilient Homes Program in the Byron Shire to date.
One homeowner was reported to have been reimbursed for costs of house raising under the Raise and Retrofit program.
Across the region, more than 730 buyback offers had been made, ‘a significant increase on the 69 approved in April 2023’, a NSW planning department spokesperson told The Echo.
Premier slow to act
So far the NSW government has resisted asking the federal government for more support, with an initial round of grants allocations under the Resilient Homes Program yet to be exhausted.
But funds in the program aren’t enough to cover costs of retrofits or repair of the 6,000 homes promised by the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation (NRRC) under the former coalition state government.
In June 2023 the NRRC said only 2,000 homes would be eligible for funding, prompting an open letter from 40 community groups demanding the full funding originally promised, and for a second tranche of funding to ensure all 6,000 homes would be eligible.
The Community Disaster Action Group, formerly the Byron Flood Emergency Action Group, says the open letter explicitly sought the PM’s commitment to ongoing funds via the since received letter to the mayor.
‘Thousands of families are still living in homes that are unsafe from future floods or unable to return home at all,’ the CDAG wrote.
‘The recovery and adaptation process has been inadequate, leaving thousands of people without dignified living conditions nearly two years later.
‘Our community was explicitly told that if their homes flooded, they would receive support, yet we’ve been met with broken promises, delaying tactics and a lack of transparency.
‘The Prime Minister has indicated he is ready to fully fund the flood recovery. However, where is Premier Minns?
‘The NSW Premier also received the open letter, however, has not joined the calls for full flood recovery funding, leaving our impacted community feeling abandoned by state leadership.’
New committee to overs NSW Reconstruction Authority
The prime minister’s commitment comes after the announcement of a new NSW parliamentary committee charged with overseeing Labor’s NSW Reconstruction Authority.
The new Joint Select Committee on the NSW Reconstruction Authority includes Greens Member for Ballina Tamara Smith, Northern Rivers based Greens Member of the Legislative Council Sue Higgenson and Northern Rivers based Labor MLC and party spokesperson for Tweed Emily Suvaal alongside seven other members.
Labor Member for Cessnock Clayton Barr is the committee chair.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
