24 May 2024

Community-led Flood Recovery/Adaptation Proposal

The devastating February and March 2022 floods in the Northern Rivers impacted over 31,000 people which included loss of life, property damage, and emotional trauma. All 7 local government areas (LGAs) – Ballina, Clarence Valley, Kyogle, Richmond Valley, Byron, Lismore, and Tweed – were declared disaster zones.

The flood waters and landslides caused by the 2022 extreme climate event left 7,731 people in emergency accommodation, 5,303 homes uninhabitable, and 14,637 homes damaged. This compounded an existing housing crisis.

Communities stepped up to save each other, coordinated a massive search and rescue effort and led the post-flood response in the initial weeks, but were lacking supplies, downed communications, delayed emergency services with an uncoordinated ADF response. By the end of 2022, over half of flood victims remained in damaged homes while 44% lived in temporary shelters or with others; while 4% relocated out of the region. 

What was proposed/promised by the Government?

After initial emergency funding, the NSW Reconstruction Authority (NSWRA) and Resilient Homes Program (RHP) were established. The RHP aimed to make flooded homes resilient through three options: wet-proofing retrofits with funding of $50k+50%, house raising with $100k+50%, or buybacks at pre-flood market value. The Government promised that homes that flooded in 2022 would be made resilient, and more than 6,000 applications were received.

However, the RHP received only $700m in 2022, which was known to be half the estimated need which was $1.5bn. The NSWRA’s focus on buybacks meant funding would not stretch to retrofitting and raising, despite these measures having the potential to make many more dwellings safely habitable. A raised home is a safe haven in a flood when there is no safe evacuation route or evacuation centre closeby. Eligibility criteria were also restricted to homes with floors below the 1-in-20 year flood level, greatly limiting the number of people who could receive assistance. Full funding would have enabled support for all those whose homes were impacted by the flood waters

The NSWRA announced a wide-ranging consultative program, but this did not materialise as planned neither has the promised case managers to assist with house raises and retrofits and consultation with the flooded residents about their needs. Promises were made that 6,000 people would be eligible for a total $1.5b spend across the RHP and the Resilient Land Program (RLP). Additionally, over $400m has been spent on temporary accommodation including pod-villages and at-home caravans, some of which are located on floodplains.

What has actually been done since the 2022 flood?

  • Only $800m of the promised $1.5bn has been delivered, leaving a $700m shortfall. Further federal funding has not been requested despite acknowledgements by the Prime Minister that the federal government is ready and awaiting a request from the NSW Premier.

  • Of the 6,000 homes promised assistance, only 2,000 are now deemed eligible by the NSWRA. By April 2024, the project completed just 1 houseraise, no retrofits and 804 buybacks in 4 LGAs. Many properties eligible for retrofits and raises remain empty two years on.

  • To date, only 686 buybacks and 1 house raising have occurred. Thousands have been left without the promised support (Questions on Notice April 2024).

  • Criteria that excludes the majority of people who flooded.

  • 18 months post-flood, 1,000 people were still in temporary “pod” villages and 118 in emergency accommodation. At this time many could have been helped to return to their own homes by a release of funds for retrofits and houseraises.

  • $438m has been spent on temporary pod housing instead of building quality public housing that could have permanently housed thousands more.

  • A measure of the flood heights in the first two months was imperative, but this has still not been done.

  • Hundreds of livable houses sit empty and deteriorating in Lismore with no plan to utilise them or move them to higher ground.

  • Extensive consultation continues with the building industry with no actual outcomes to benefit those who flooded.

    • Johns Lang building report that was recommended to have completed in order to facilitate eligibility for raise or retrofit or buy back seemingly not used except in the case of buy back.
    • Gold Coast 2 day information session for building companies to tender for retrofit and raise. No result.
    • Recent tradespersons workshops across the LGAs for builders to ask questions about house raises and retrofits were not adequately advertised and were poorly attended.

  • The community cannot lead or respond when public information is not made available. There have been frequent calls for increased transparency from the NSWRA (and the NRRC before it). The online RHP dashboard needs to be reinstated to provide up-to-date information regarding the ongoing recovery/adaptation process.

The community feels abandoned with so little delivered relative to what was promised and needed. There are many questions of whether taxpayer money has been wasted, whilst many in the community are unsupported and vulnerable to future disasters.

What does the community propose?

FIT-FOR-PURPOSE CRITERIA

  • Broaden criteria to assist all 6,000 households who applied to the Resilient Homes Program (RHP).
  • Flood data needs to be updated to the 2022 levels across the 7 LGAs. Additionally, it is essential to gather and analyse data that projects worst-case scenarios for the Northern Rivers into the future. This forward-looking approach will ensure that disaster preparedness, mitigation, and adaptation strategies are designed to ‘future-proof’ the community against potential extreme flood events that may surpass the 2022 levels.

PROVIDE FULL FUNDING AS PROMISED

  • Deliver the full $1.5bn pledged for the Northern Rivers and more as needed.

URGENT ACTION BEFORE THE NEXT DISASTER

  • Give priority to house raising, retrofitting, relocation, and reopening access to rural properties instead of solely focusing on buybacks. 
  • In addition, include other diverse flood mitigation strategies such as household levy walls to safeguard vulnerable households unable to undergo house raising. 
  • Install updated flood gauges, flood monitoring cameras and other warning systems across all catchments to improve the ability community members to make well-informed decisions, and enhance effective disaster preparedness.

COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT AND DEMOCRATIC INVOLVEMENT

  • In the ongoing disaster recovery, preparedness and adaptation decision-making processes.
  • To begin with this means that the community is valued, informed and able to deliberate on decisions that impact them
    • In particular, Bundjalung and other First Nations sciences, cultural knowledge, connection and participation needs to be valued and centred.
  • Specifically: The Community Leaders Forum (CLF) advisory board for the RA that was established after the ‘Recovery Reset’ needs to be complimented with a Community Advisory Board, with the same Terms of Reference as the CLF, but which has broader diversity and includes directly affected community members.
  • We request that the CLF meetings are live-streamed and made publicly accessible – as is practised in local council meetings. If not possible, then several community members with at least observer status are able to attend existing CLF meetings.
  • We offer to support the government to achieve best-practise – i.e. robust, empowering and deliberative – community involvement in their programs and processes. Specifically we would like to help with the ‘Community Reference Group’ for the Northern Rivers Disaster Adaptation Plan.

The communities that stepped up in the crisis across the 7 LGAs have the lived experience, skills, local knowledge and support to help lead the recovery – we need a seat at the table. With expert input, transparency from authorities, participation and the space to deliberate, we can develop a vision to respond to emergencies, disasters and prepare for the future. We urge you to work with us, the people from the 7 LGAS affected, to make this happen.

 1   We support the existing Terms of Reference (TOR) of the Community Leaders Forum (CLF), however the membership seems more like a ‘local government’ leaders forum than a community leaders forum. We believe more diverse community participation in advising the NSWRA is required. Our proposal for selecting members to a Community Advisory board would be informed by leading research in deliberative democracy, amongst other factors.

Our supporters

Who endorses this proposal to date?

  • Community Disaster Action Group
  • Northern Rivers Community Foundation
  • Currie Country Social Change
  • Liberation Larder
  • Reclaim Our Recovery
  • Together Pottsville
  • Nimbin Health & Welfare Association
  • Nimbin Disaster Resilience Group
  • Plan C
  • Mount Burrell Community Resilience Team
  • Evans Area Resilience Network (EARN)
  • The New School of Arts Neighbourhood House Inc.
  • Murwillumbah CORE (MCORE)
  • Resilient Uki
  • ICOPE (Iluka Community Organisation Planning for Emergencies Inc)
  • Chinderah Hub
  • Bangalow Resilience Network
  • Community Resilience Hub for South Golden Beach/New Brighton/Ocean Shores
  • House You
  • Mullumbimby District Neighbourhood Centre
  • Mullumbimby Residents Association
  • Queer Family Inc
  • Resilient Lismore
  • Kunghur Community
  • Nimbin Community Care Teams Project
  • University Centre for Rural Health