Australian Associated Press AAP, 28 October 2022:
Flood victims in northern NSW have described the government’s $520 million buyback scheme as a “cookie cutter” package designed without adequate community consultation.
The $520 million buyback scheme is the centrepiece of an $800 million package co-funded by the NSW and federal governments, to give 2000 flood-impacted residents of the Northern Rivers region the opportunity to raise, repair or retrofit their houses.
For homes in the areas most at risk – Lismore and the surrounding Northern Rivers region – governments will offer to buy the home and land from the owner.
But victims of the Lismore floods criticised the scheme on Friday, saying it lacks detail and was developed without their input, nearly eight months after the town was devastated.
“Nobody’s actually spoken to us about what our community’s needs are prior to determining the package,” flood victim and domestic violence worker Vicky Findlay told AAP.
“I feel like it’s a bit of a cookie-cutter approach.”
Ms Findlay’s North Lismore home was inundated during flooding earlier this year, destroying bedrooms and leaving her without a kitchen.
Her son, 27, has a disability and is on a waitlist for social housing, meanwhile living in a caravan on their property.
“I imagine we will get a buyback, but the problem for us is that we can’t leave unless our son is given social housing,” she said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the package offers a way forward for communities devastated by repeated flooding this year, adding governments could not continue to allow homes to be built on floodplains.
“This is the biggest agreement of its kind, ever, in response to a very significant event,” he told reporters in Lismore on Friday.
“We need to do better on planning, but we also need to do better than thinking we can just do the same thing over and over again.”
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet will lead discussion at a national cabinet meeting about improving planning to ensure floodplain developments didn’t continue.
Mr Perrottet said rebuilding with resilience in mind would avoid past mistakes, adding the days of developing on floodplains in the state were over.
“I’ve already spoken to the planning minister in relation to this,” he said.
Criminal lawyer and Lismore local Eddie Lloyd, who was rescued from a roof during floods earlier this year, said residents living on floodplains remained unsure about which support packages they would be eligible for.
“We hoped that this would be a community-led recovery and rebuild,” Ms Lloyd told AAP.
“The really disappointing factor for us is that the community haven’t been consulted.”
Labor leader Chris Minns welcomed the Commonwealth-state funded package but said it was vital the Northern Rivers were not forgotten.
“It’s a tricky policy situation. I think everybody acknowledges it’s not as simple as coming out with an announcement within days of a natural emergency … I’m glad that we’re now where we are at,” he said.
The program will be open to residents in the Ballina, Byron, Clarence Valley, Kyogle, Lismore, Richmond Valley and Tweed local government areas.
The voluntary buyback scheme will be offered from Monday to home owners in the most vulnerable parts of the Northern Rivers, where renewed flooding continues to pose a serious risk.
They will be offered money to raise, repair or retrofit their property, or sell it to the government, based on expert assessments of the damage, its safety risks and potential future flood levels.
Many assessments will have already taken place, Mr Perrottet said.
Those eligible will be given a payment based on a valuation of the home and land.
Up to $100,000 will be available to raise homes and up to $50,000 for retrofitting in cases where flood risk can be mitigated by better building.
The state government will also spend $100 million buying new land in flood-safe locations for new developments with the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation.
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