I congratulate Lismore’s Trinity College work experience student Bella Clay on her article (Echo, April 26), relating her family’s lived experience since the 2022 floods.
My heart goes out to Bella and so many of our community members severely impacted then and still today.
I agree with Bella that the Resilient Homes program needed to improve.
However, I need to set the record straight on funding for this project. No government, state or federal, has cut funding promised for Resilient Homes and Resilient Land programs.
Initially the Albanese federal government and Perrottet state government jointly committed $700 million for Resilient Homes. The Perrottet government committed another $100 million for the Resilient Lands project and the Minns Labor government later added another $100 million to Resilient Homes.
The former head of the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation used the $1.5 billion figure in the media when talking about the projected cost of buybacks, retrofits and relocations – but no government, state or federal, promised that amount.
Meanwhile, I remain united with my fellow Northern Rivers MPs and local mayors in pushing for further funding.
Janelle Saffin MP
NSW Parliamentary Secretary for Disaster Recovery
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. 
