Member for Page, MP Kevin Hogan (Nationals) has criticised the NSW government’s flood recovery efforts, saying that, ‘I can’t help but think if this disaster had been in Sydney, things would be happening much quicker’.
This weekend marks four years since the floods in 2022, which saw devastating floods and landslips throughout the norther rivers and SE Qld.
Hogan said in a statement, ‘There are three areas where the State and Federal Labor Governments are failing us’.
‘(1) The Resilient Lands Program was established to unlock land and build new homes. Not one home has been built and it is still years away before the first family will move into one. The Reconstruction Authority was established to speed up this process. If this is considered a quick process, then something is clearly wrong.
‘(2) The buyback scheme has also failed. It was not fully funded. It’s moved half a street and left the other half there. Over 1,000 homes identified to be bought back back wont be. How does that make the community any safer.
‘(3) Flood mitigation is the only strategy that will deliver long-term safety and certainty for our region. Yet to date there has been no meaningful engineering work done to reduce the level of the next flood.
‘Recovery has been driven overwhelmingly by local families, farmers and businesses who have poured their savings into rebuilding homes, reopening shops, restoring farms and getting people back to work.
‘We await the CSIRO Flood Mitigation Report in June. Governments must commit to funding and delivering recommendations to take 2 metres off the next flood.
‘The federal and state Labor governments need to do better, in ensuring this region has a safer and prosperous future’, he said.
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