Mullum Recovery Centre recognised

The Mullum Recovery Centre has been recognised as a finalist in the NSW Resilient Australia Awards 2023. While the centre did not take out the top spot in the local government category, being recognised as a finalist is a great acknowledgement of the valuable work that was done in connecting the community with recovery services.

In the wake of devastating flood events in February and March 2022, the Mullum Recovery Centre was set-up at the Mullumbimby Civic Hall to provide support to disaster-affected residents from March to August 2022. It was a place for impacted residents to connect with information, support, and each other. In addition to providing formal support services, it was also important to create a welcoming space.

Byron Shire Mayor Michael Lyon said that the Mullum Recovery Centre was an example of how Council and community work together to support local residents and that the people involved with setting up and running the Mullumbimby Recovery Centre wholeheartedly deserve the recognition they have been given.

”Mullumbimby District Neighbourhood Centre, Council and Resilience NSW worked with a range of local community organisations as well as state and national services to establish the Mullum Recovery Centre in the early days after the flood events. In my eyes it is certainly a benchmark for recovery centres throughout Australia. I want to thank everyone involved and let you know that your commitment and hard work certainly has not gone unnoticed,” Mayor Lyon said.

Mullum Recovery Centre members.

The NSW Resilient Australia Awards is proudly sponsored by the Australian Government in partnership with the states and territories and managed by the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience (AIDR). The awards celebrate and promote initiatives that build whole of community resilience to disasters and emergencies around Australia, and how organisations work together during disaster events.

The Centre also won the Community Partnerships award category at the 2023 LG Professionals NSW Awards earlier this year.

Council continues to work alongside other levels of government and community on the long journey of recovery and facing ongoing climate challenges together.

On a final note, Council would like to acknowledge Shedding Community Workshop, which won the Mental Health & Wellbeing category at the awards for their post-flood repair and recovery initiative. Following the flood events, the organisation transformed their small scale workshop; supporting hundreds of volunteers to salvage, assess, clean, repair, donate and deliver flood-damaged items to flood affected communities region wide.

Shedding Community Workshop also won the 2023 Community Initiative of Byron Shire award earlier this year.

For more local Mullumbimby news, click here.

A chance to find out all about building

By Samantha Elley

Tiny homes were certainly a drawcard at the Lismore Housing Expo last weekend.

Held at the South Lismore Bowling Club, the expo saw a steady stream of people who wandered the booths of house builders, financiers, insurance companies, council staff, Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation and even well-being groups such as Social Futures.

Examples of tiny homes were set up for the public to peruse and that is where Pauline Luethi of Alstonville, along with Jenny Luethi of Lismore and Regi Lippuner of East Lismore, were, inspecting the latest in this housing phenomenon.

“I am genuinely interested in tiny homes,” said Pauline.

“I was looking four years ago, but wasn’t ready, but now we are looking again as it is probably a good time.”

Co-owner of Tiny Homes Australia, Dang Nguyen said she and her partner, Peter Wigley had started their company because they believe passionately in tiny homes.

“We push for tiny home communities,” said Dang.

“So that people will be with each other but separate in their own space.”

Pauline Luethi of Alstonville, Jenny Luethi of Lismore and Regi Lippuner of East Lismore inspecting a tiny home.

The tiny homes are made from trailers and can be added to, to make room as space is needed.

The tiny home on display at the expo had a kitchen and dining area in the first trailer, then a couple of bedrooms in the second one, as an example.

For the Lismore area, Dang said the benefit of a tiny home is that it is moveable.

“The home has wheels which are lifted up when in one place, but can come down and be moved as needed,” she said.

For Richmond Hill couple Donna and Antonio Cruz, the home expo was a chance for them to do some investigation work.

“We are looking at building  a granny flat onto our house,” said Donna.

“It will be an investment.”

The Tiny Homes Australia tiny home, that is moveable and built from trailers.

Suncorp’s Senior Mobile Lending Manager, Grant Burdon and Design and Resilience specialist, Tegan Mortimore were on hand to discuss all things finance and insurance, for people looking to build, invest or renovate.

“Each loan is assessed under normal home loan conditions,” said Grant.

“Serviceability is important, such as can you pay back the loan.

“Some homes may not fit the mortgage conditions but each situation is treated individually.”

For people wanting to build that extra granny flat on their property Tegan said its important to ensure the new building meets insurance requirements.

“We want to educate people and encourage them to speak to their insurer,” she said.

“There may be  a number of underwriting issues such as separate metering, that needs to be addressed.”

For more local Lismore news, click here.

Long awaited breakthrough for Tyalgum community with access to flood-damaged road restored

By Sarah Waters

Tyalgum residents can now save a lot of time getting to and from home following the long-awaited opening of Tyalgum Road.

A temporary access road, through the landslip site near Tyalgum Village, was opened on Monday, October 30.

Tyalgum resident Bruna Sutherland said it was an exciting development.

“It’s a huge change … it’ll save me at least half an hour of time on the weekends,” Ms Sutherland said.

“It’s a better road too, it’s not that winding, so I’m very happy that it’s open again,” Ms Sutherland said.

Tyalgum resident Bruna Sutherland is pleased she no longer has to drive an alternative route via Chillingham to get back to her hinterland home.

An extreme landslide (100 meters in height) which occurred during the February-March 2022 flood took out a section of Tyalgum Road.

The severely damaged section of road was instantly closed to traffic, leaving residents of the hinterland village no choice but to travel the longer alternative route via Chillingham.

In March this year, a local contractor was appointed to undertake the road’s major restoration.

The stabilisation and construction of the single-lane temporary access road was the first stage of fixing the flood-damaged road.

Tweed Shire Mayor Chris Cherry said it was a big relief for everyone to finally see it open again.

“The repair of the extreme landslip just outside of Tyalgum is the biggest and most complex of all of our restoration jobs in the Tweed following last year’s devastating flood,” Ms Cherry said.

The major landslide that took out a section of Tyalgum Road during the 2022 floods.

“But thankfully, we will see cars, motorbikes and bicycles travel through this important community connector road once again.

“It has been a difficult and complicated process for the project team and contractor SEE Civil to get to this point, but it has been even more difficult for residents who have been impacted by this road closure and we thank them for their patience,” she said.

Council’s Manager Infrastructure Delivery Tim Mackney said while the slip was currently stable, heavy rainfall had the potential to create movement.

In the event of detected ground movement or heavy rainfall in the coming months the new access road may have to be closed while the permanent work to fix the slip continue.

Council will advise the community any changes or the need to temporarily close the access road should a concern arise.

The contractor remains on-site at Tyalgum Road, continuing work on the reconstruction of the permanent road which is due to open by March 2025.

For more 2022 floods news, click here.