Those familiar with the NSW Reconstruction Authority (RA), the agency tasked with flood recovery for the north coast (and disaster recovery for NSW), may be heartened to know that a review is underway of the Act that governs the government-run corporation (govcorp).
A Joint Select Committee has also formed to review the NSW Reconstruction Authority Act 2022.
Until now, RA has enjoyed immunity from public scrutiny, while attracting a lot of criticisms, for example, around delays in, and the appeals process of, its Resilient Homes Program.
RA’s $790 million Resilient Homes Program includes house-raising, retrofits and buybacks. While hundreds of flood-affected homeowners were promised that their homes would be funded, the promise was famously reneged upon. Notably, Byron Shire was left short.
RA follows the failed agencies that preceded it – the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation and Resilience NSW.
The 2022 NSW Flood Inquiry recommended RA be established with dedicated legislation modelled on the Qld Reconstruction Authority Act 2011.
The NSW Reconstruction Authority Act 2022 grants significant powers to RA and the minister for planning and public spaces.
This includes carrying out development on certain lands in particular circumstances, which has begun in Lismore. Areas in Byron Shire – Saddle Road near Bruns and Bangalow – are in the works.
The public submissions for reviewing the Act are available online, and the review’s terms of reference aim to ‘determine whether the policy objectives of the Act remain valid, and the terms of the Act remain appropriate for securing the objectives’.
So what do the submissions say?
The Law Society of NSW has called for amendments to provide clarity and safeguards on the minister’s powers, arguing that some aspects of Part 5 of the Act are unnecessarily and disproportionately broad.
President Brett McGrath writes the powers of the minister and RA should be subject to reasonable safeguards, including clarity, transparency and proportionality.
‘In Qld’s counterpart legislation, the minister is not afforded the power to suspend the operation of any other legislation or statutory instruments pursuant to making a declaration in respect of a declared project or reconstruction area’.
McGrath also adds, ‘We suggest that this regulatory framework should be coordinated with relevant Commonwealth legislation’.
Byron Council staff member Esmeralda Davis also offered views on the Act. ‘While timely access to funding and grants for local government was welcomed’, she wrote, ‘The funding administration and claims process has been exceptionally complex and protracted. This places a heavy administrative burden on Council staff, and also forces councils to carry additional financial risk, owing to the retrospective reimbursement approach to funding.
‘It is not yet clear how the legislation will enable RA to improve the resilience and adaptability of affected communities in relation to potential disasters. Council strongly urges government to support local initiatives through the funding of dedicated permanent positions within Council, to deliver programs suited to and informed by the local context’.
The Joint Select Committee will report by November 28.
Hans Lovejoy, editor
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