Lismore News
Economic-Environmental Recovery Plan an imperative

Economic-Environmental Recovery Plan an imperative
By Janelle Saffin MP
State Member for Lismore
EIGHT months on from the catastrophic flood of February 28 2022, I have written to NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet to take stock of where the Northern Rivers region, and in particular the Electorate of Lismore that I represent, stands in regard to our flood recovery.
I welcomed the Premier’s joint announcement made with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week on an $800-million Resilient Homes Fund package for the Northern Rivers that I strongly advocated for since early days.
I have let the community know that it is a start, not the end, and will take considerable time.
It is importantly the first in New South Wales as we embark on the transformational adaptation that is required to live with wild weather and climate change.
The form to express your interest in the Resilient Homes Fund can be found at https://www.nsw.gov.au/…/res…/resilient-homes-program…
Now that this package is being put in place, it is imperative that a comprehensive Economic-Environmental Recovery Plan be rolled out for the Northern Rivers.
I am thankful for the range of flood recovery assistance grants that are available to impacted residents and businesses, some of which we have never had like the one for commercial and residential landlords and the Resilient Homes Fund.
An Economic-Environment Recovery Plan needs to be shaped through the lens of what has happened here; that is we were hit by an event that was akin to an inland tsunami, leaving in its wake a humanitarian disaster on a scale not seen since Darwin’s Cyclone Tracy in 1974.
We need economic and environmental plans for all seven local councils and Tenterfield Shire (Lismore Electorate) reviewed with detailed consideration given to transformational adaptation.
In Australia, there has been adaptation but to date it has been incremental which is why an Economic-Environmental Recovery Plan becomes more imperative with our rebuild, and in some instances, our staged retreat, which cannot simply mean abandonment.
The Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation (NRRC) is doing some good work in this space. They are building capacity and have a good leader in Chief Executive David Witherdin yet they need to be let off the leash, so to speak.
The advent of the Resilient Homes Fund will facilitate this somewhat. I say let the NRRC get on with the job it is designed to do rather than needing Ministerial approval before they sneeze.
The NRRC’s Advisory Board needs to be chaired by a local person of standing rather than an Acting Secretary of the Department of Regional NSW, otherwise it is a bureaucratic board, not our board.
The Advisory Board should also be out and about having community conversations. The NRRC I know does do this too, as they are meeting so many people but they also need space to work.
It’s quite bizarre that none of the Advisory Board’s members permanently resides in Lismore, the epicentre of February’s disaster, or in Murwillumbah, Woodburn, etc., that also got smashed.
I acknowledge that tens of millions have gone towards the rollout of temporary housing or pod villages – also a first for NSW – but it’s a process I described in Parliament as clunky, slow and not done in collaboration with community, and lacking any creativity whatsoever.
I have had representations and conversations with Mayors, Councillors and others who say the pod village idea needs a complete rethink. It needs to be done in close collaboration with all community leaders, notably Councils.
I know land is problematic but it requires more than here is Crown Land, here is Council land aka sporting fields and that is where the pods go. Also some of the places where people are now housed require better care.
I shall continue to advocate to secure the changes and developments we need.
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