Ian Stewart, Joye Spink reveal nightmare behind flood assistance grants in Lismore

Lismore residents have described the long wait for flood assistance grants as a “nightmare” with some fearing businesses will be left behind...

Lismore business owners and residents have described the arduous wait for flood assistance grants as a “nightmare” after it was revealed the majority of applicants haven’t been approved.

Anxiety has turned into frustration for many as it was revealed out of 14,964 small business grant applications only 15 per cent had been approved since the March 9 induction, according to Service NSW.

Across the Northern Rivers almost 30,000 residents are yet to receive their requested flood support payments.

The slow pace rollout of grants has caused business and homeowners to fear they will be left behind as they grapple with the painstaking process.

Lismore business owner Ian Stewart has a number of jobs repairing CBD businesses but had his own struggles with the system.

He grew frustrated trying to help his 75-year-old father navigate the complicated process to access the Primary Industry Recovery and Resilience grants.

Ian Stewart has had to wait six weeks to hear from someone about a flood assistance grant. Picture: Nicholas Rupolo.

His father runs 150 head of cattle on a farm in Repentance Creek, 28 kilometres north of Lismore, and suffered almost $100,000 in damages.

Mr Stewart said he applied for the grant two months ago but didn’t receive any contact or automated response to say his application was received which prompted him to check on the process.

He was told to wait but it was six weeks before he had human contact to tell him that his claim was being assessed.

“It took over five hours for me and my wife to do it on behalf of my dad and it was a nightmare,” he said.

Ian Stewart has had inconsistent work repairing buildings in the CBD. Picture: Nicholas Rupolo.

“I understand you have to be careful of scammers but if we weren’t at least a bit tech savvy my dad would have no hope.”

It had already been a two month wait since he sent the application and he isn’t sure if his father will receive the money.

Others haven’t had to wait as long but business owners say the length of the wait is the difference between a shop opening up or closing for good.

Northern Rivers Tiles and Mosaics owner Joye Spink received a response just one week after making her application which included five photos of flood damage, an utility bill, an invoice from before the flood to prove she was running the business and proof of lease on the building.

The Keen St store owner says while she was able to get all her documents together it still won’t cover the $100,000 damages to her business, and that’s before the money has hit her account.

“I got all my bank statements and highlighted all the invoices that made up the $50,000 and a week later I got a notice to say it was approved but they say they’ll be in contact ‘shortly’ to tell me if they’ve paid or not,” she said.

“I went up to the business hub at the university to get my things processed but I feel that they should look at grants for what people have lost rather than just a flat $50,000”.

Ms Spink has had to run down her savings before getting access to her much-needed funds.

Joye Spink received a notification her application was approved but still has a nervous wait before she sees her much needed grant. Picture: Nicholas Rupolo.

Ms Spink is referring to smaller businesses including those people who might own the building they operate in.

They also might be excluded from the medium-sized business grant which is a grant worth $200,000 for operators that employ between 21 and 199 staff.

“The Red Rooster (franchisee) has already confirmed that he isn’t coming back, he took out a big loan after the 2017 flood but has now called it quits,” Ms Spink said.

“I fear that it might be impossible for people to recover if they don’t fix that.”