As the damning NSW Auditor-Generals report into the NSW Reconstruction Authority’s (RA) handling of its two key programs, the Resilient Homes (RHP) and Resilient Lands Programs (RLP) came out RA announced that Kate Fitzgerald has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer.
While RA has now, four years later, begun to get on top of actually delivering relief and assistance to those directly impacted by the devastating 2022 floods they have so far failed to deliver any ‘homes or lots through the RLP’.
The report stated that, ‘The Resilient Homes and Resilient Lands Programs were not effectively planned’ and that ‘The Reconstruction Authority has not effectively administered the Resilient Lands Program’.
The RA has delivered 793 buybacks and 35 house relocations and speaking to The Echo Kristie Clarke Executive Director Adaptation and Resilience at RA, said that they were ‘about 70 per cent through the overall $880 million spend and 75 per cent through the current allocated time for the program’.
A key issue for many people who were impacted by the 2022 flood was that even if they had a desire to move their home to safer ground it was incredibly challenging when the RLP had failed to deliver any land for them to move to. This led to some people selling on their properties which removed those properties from the buyback and relocation programs and meant that housing is more likely to remain in high-risk flood areas and continue to be onsold.
Not enough communication and awareness
‘I think that there was not enough communication and awareness of the long-term nature of the delivery of the programs, and that is something that we are working on to be able to better communicate with communities,’ Ms Clarke acknowledged.
For those who have stayed the distance, the RA is now prioritising properties that are part of the RHP for access to some of the upcoming land releases they are facilitating.
Of significant concern is the recent change of permitted use of some of the buyback sites with Lismore MP, Janelle Saffin announcing on 16 May that the RA are looking at the possibility that some bought-back sites may also be used for commercial or industrial purposes.
Building on buy back land
While the RA is saying that no residential development is allowed on bought-back sites and ‘flood risk is strictly managed,’ what determines flood risk appears to change depending on the council area.
‘The reasoning behind that decision is that we’ve been working closely with the Natural Emergency Management Agency to be able to have the flexibility to work with councils and community about the future use,’ said Ms Clarke.
They said ‘manageable flood risk’ would be ‘determined in conjunction with the councils and through the local planning arrangements. It’s not necessarily a difference between the local government areas in terms of their approach; it will be about how local councils apply the different approaches within each local government area.’
Since its inception as the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation (NRRC) in response to the 2022 floods, the scope of the NSW RA has been significantly extended. It is now an organisation that ‘works proactively to reduce the impact of floods, fires and other major disasters, while coordinating recovery efforts to ensure communities can rebuild stronger.’
Ms Fitzgerald clarified that while they continue to deliver the RHP and RLP, RA now has more funding through the grants program for community infrastructure work including in water, wastewater, sewerage works as well as ‘infrastructure programs that go to the mitigation or hardening up of infrastructure for future floods. The other frame of work we have from a mitigation perspective is in relation to the disaster adaptation plan work that we’re doing now,’ she said.
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