Campaign questions

By Yvonne Gardiner

THE DEVASTATING flood of February and March 2022 was catastrophe — one of the biggest floods in the Tweed’s recorded history.

Almost a year after this deluge, residents, Tweed Shire Council and businesses are still battling to recover from the enormous destruction and damage.

The financial cost amounts to millions. Restoring the road networks across the Tweed, which has been complicated and lengthy, had an estimated bill of more than $90 million alone.

Tweed residents were hit hard. More than 2,100 homes were damaged and, of those, 500 were deemed no longer habitable.

In the wake of such a disaster, The Weekly has asked NSW Election 2023 candidates in the Tweed and Lismore electorates what they think of the NSW Government’s handling of flood recovery in the shire, and what still needs to be done?

Lismore

Janelle Saffin (Labor)

T he accolades must go to locals who saved local lives, family pets and farmers’ livestock, to our tinnie army crews, to neighbours, to local emergency services.

The two major agencies tasked with rescue and recovery were missing in action.

From day one, I determined that this would change and I made sure that it did.

Resilience NSW has now gone and we now have the NSW Reconstruction Authority. It is established to better prepare, reduce risk, mitigate and undertake transformational adaptation. I also determined that we needed our own agency to help us rebuild, and secured the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation (NRRC).

Despite its failure to communicate clearly and in a timely way, it is doing some great work. We secured the $700 million Resilient Home Fund and an additional $100 million for land. Yes we got rent assistance, backhome grants for homeowners and landlords/landladies, small business grants and primary producer grants.

But the grants criteria needs urgent review as there are some unfair conditions.

However, what is unforgivable is the complete lack of a sense of urgency from the NSW Government.

I have been patient and prepared to work in a bipartisan, constructive manner with all the parties, but the NRRC really must immediately improve its consultation with people, be less bureaucratic and more transparent.

I’ve put and published a series of questions to the NRRC chief executive, David Witherdin, on behalf of our communities. People need answers now.

Community-led recovery is essential and no other approach is going to work. Failure of government to perceive that would be an opportunity lost and a tragic failure for our people.

Adam Guise (Greens)

W hile the government has provided some support to flood-impacted communities, nearly one year on much more needs to be done. People are still homeless, living in tents or in the shell of their houses.

The government has not communicated properly people’s options for the future, and flood-impacted residents are left in limbo about what to do. We know from the Flood Inquiry report that the SES and initial emergency response to the floods was inadequate, and much needs to be done to strengthen our emergency services in response to disasters. Early warning systems, proper data and community-informed information is critical to making good decisions. The government needs to take action and have the NRRC acquire suitable land to enable affordable land swaps, house relocations and build suitable housing for temporary and permanent accommodation. Disasters aren’t going to lessen under climate change and we need to be prepared.

Alex Rubin (Nationals)

As a first responder to the floods and my part in coordinating the rapid army response, our focus was getting immediate support out to the people who needed it.

Since this time the recovery effort has stalled, due to a lack of leadership and vision at the local level.

Having worked in international recovery, I have seen what can be done and I am frustrated that, 12 months on, we are having endless rounds of discussion, committees and tackling problems that need practical solutions. A total of $800 million has been delivered by the NSW Coalition government for housing and land purchases, but nobody knows how this is being used or who will get assistance.

Without this, nobody can make a decision for their future. It is shameful that our people still remain without a home. Like everyone, I am frustrated by the bureaucracy and lack of information at all levels. Why the Labor Government continues to sit on the interim CSIRO study (since late last year) is inexcusable and retards any progress. This must be released to the public immediately.

What our community needs is transparency about the roadmap for how we are going to repair the damage and protect ourselves from the next flood/drought. Where is the flood mitigation plan to combat the next disaster?

Unless our local MP and the NRRC pull their fingers out, we will waste a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make Lismore “future ready”, our economy will implode and we will remain broken forever. This a time for leadership, decisive action and delivery of real solutions.

TWEED Geoff Provest (Nationals)

I am deeply sorry for the suffering many Tweed locals endured during the catastrophic Tweed floods in early 2022.

My wife Kirstin and I think all Tweed residents were deeply affected by this unprecedented disaster. What I set about to do was to work as closely as possible with the elected Tweed Shire Council representatives and my friend, Lismore Labor MP Janelle Saffin, to do everything possible to help locals, share their pain and send the clearest possible message to all levels of government.

I have said and will repeat, that the response from governments has not been perfect, but it has been well-intentioned and managed as best as the bureaucrats could possibly do for an unprecedented event that fell upon us after the previous unprecedented event, COVID-19.

The independent inquiry taught us all many lessons and I’d like to finish by thanking all the emergency service volunteers and professionals for the amazing and comforting work they have done throughout this crisis.

*At the time of going to print, the Australian Labor Party had yet to announce a candidate for the seat of Tweed, while the Tweed Greens were in the process of selecting a new candidate. Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party candidate in Lismore, Matthew Bertalli, could not respond with comments before The Weekly’s deadline.