Lismore councillor’s vote back in October to relocate Council employees back into the Lismore CBD has been described as ‘regressive and foolish’ by councillor Jasmine Knight-Smith (Labor).
The vote at the 14 October 2025 meeting saw Cr Knight-Smith’s original motion amended substantially.
She sought support ‘to offer the Richmond River Historical Society the space they previously rented in the town’s municipal building ‘so that they may operate the Museum and the Historical Society from this building’.
Councillor Gianpiero Battista moved an amendment which:
- resolves to relocate Council employees back into the Lismore CBD by relocating into existing buildings that it owns, manages and leases.
- acknowledges this may be a stage approach given the various status of its buildings.
- request the General Manager to bring a report to Council should additional budget funding be required.
Voting for were councillors Battista, Bing, Gordon, Hall, Jensen, Krieg and Rob.
Voting against were councillors Dalton-Earls, Guise, Knight-Smith and Waters.
A resident told The Echo, ‘The public had no opportunity to provide input. Other councillors had no time to review costs, risks, or implications. In fact cost or risk wasn’t even part of the resolution. This was a major strategic decision pushed through without transparency’.
‘Key issues that elevate this to a state-level story:
- ‘Financial burden on ratepayers and tax payers around the country: Returning to a high-risk zone increases long-term costs for insurance, future relocations, and emergency recovery. LCC just recently accepted in their budget that they will be listed as one of the ‘least liquid’ Councils in the state and also that they only have 60 days of cash to cover expenses. This additional risk is negligent.
- ‘Contradiction of state and federal resilience funding: Public money has been invested to reduce exposure to disasters. This decision appears to ignore or even undermine that purpose. Creating an expectation tax payers around the country will subsidise this risk.
- ‘Operational risk: The council is choosing to place its own essential services back into an area that has repeatedly been inundated, compromising future emergency response.
- ‘Process concerns: A major capital-impacting motion not listed on the business paper raises real questions about transparency, due diligence, and proper governance.
‘Residents are repeatedly told to “build back better” and avoid high-risk zones. Yet the council itself is choosing to do the opposite, without public scrutiny and without a clear plan for costs or consequences.
‘This decision affects every local ratepayer and has implications for how disaster-recovery funding is being utilised. It seems like a story with strong public interest and potentially broader relevance to discussions of resilience planning in NSW’, said the resident.
Mayor defends decision
On 8 December, Mayor Steve Krieg defended the decision on ABC North Coast, and said, ‘flooding is something that our city can deal with…’
‘I think, you know, we live, if we live by what ifs, we wouldn’t get out of bed in the morning.
‘What if we drive through a roundabout and a car hits us? What if we go skydiving and the parachute doesn’t open? We wouldn’t do anything if we said what if on every decision that we make’.
He also said,‘Council will not be disadvantaged at all during a flood’.
‘And as we all know, our council staff, our outdoor crews and our indoor crews put the wellies on and the gloves on and were down in the CBD helping people clean up, whether it was a council asset, or private business…
‘It’s not a dramatic thing to expect your council to be where the majority of your businesses are, to be accessible, far more accessible to your population. I think it’s an exciting move. I’m really thrilled that our council is being in being to where the businesses are and activating our CBD and giving that support to so many local businesses that really need all of us to support them at the moment’.
Cr Knight-Smith told The Echo, ‘Council have been in G’bah for some 30 years for a reason’.
‘We need, and want our staff, who coordinate our recovery, and their equipment, out of floods.
‘We do not want operational staff so caught up with saving and moving council personal and equipment that it impacts on the time spent assisting the community.
‘Decisions like this that have meant that Lismore is the only regional city in the state without a museum. It is a travesty!’ she added.
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