Lismore flood victims in limbo; councillors blame state government

Lismore councillors who’ve voted down pod villages for flood victims say they have been wrongly slammed by the community - laying the blame on the state government for housing inaction. Read their message on the way forward.

Ken Bridge at his home in South Lismore in the aftermath of the devastating floods. Picture: Jason O‘Brien

With 427 homeless flood victims unsure of where they will sleeping after Christmas, councillors who voted against pod villages at Hepburn Park, Clifford Park and the Lismore Golf Course have kicked back at criticism from angry members of the community – many of whom are living in caravans – blaming the state government for not providing suitable housing sites.

Cr Big Rob took a “dig” at Steph Cooke MP for comments made on ABC Radio about the “inadequacy” of councillors to meet the needs of flood survivors.

Mr Rob said as Flood Recovery Minister, it was in Ms Cooke’s domain to address the problem, and he added that the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation was sitting on $100 million to acquire land.

“We’re copping so much grief and everyone’s accusing us of not caring about the homeless,” he said.

At Tuesday night’s Lismore City Council meeting, a motion was put for a workshop with the state government on potential housing sites for flood battlers.

Laani Winkler, 25, helps friend Kylie Gilmore clean her flood ravaged pub, Lismore. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

The motion would invite Resilience NSW, the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation and Landcom to a meeting where suitable sites would be discussed.

Cr Jeri Hall – who voted down the Hepburn Park pods – seconded the motion, saying: “We’ve copped a lot of flak over the last week about knocking back Hepburn Park and this is what we’ve been asking for the entire time.”

But Cr Vanessa Ekins noted this work had been happening for “many, many months”, with council currently working on two affordable housing sites since last year.

“The growth management strategies have been there … all these options are there,” Ms Ekins said.

Emergency housing is the responsibility of Resilience NSW, while median and long term housing is the responsibility of the Reconstruction Corporation – both state government organisations.

A man walks through floodwater on March 31, 2022 in Lismore. Picture: Dan Peled/Getty Images

Cr Adam Guise said there was no shortage of available land, but the Reconstruction Corporation needed to ensure it was made affordable for flood survivors left with nothing.

“Continuing more of the same where we simply open up more land for development and sell off these lots for $400,000 or $500,000 for blocks puts that out of the realm of any of our existing residents,” Mr Guise said.

“It perpetuates more of the same, which is a growing divide between the haves and the have nots in terms of access to housing.

“We’ve got plenty of land and it’s identified … between Pineapple Road, Trinity Drive and Lagoon Grass alone which is close to existing development and services.

“You’ve got 1000 lots there. They could be acquired very shortly and accelerate our recovery and make it affordable.”

Cr Andrew Gordon said Lismore Council was “incapable of solutions”.

“This is the narrative that leads this community to have absolutely no confidence in this forum of (council),” he said.

“To be quite frank I think we should just hand this to Resilience NSW and the NRRC and let them deal with it.

“This forum cannot provide directions other than politically biased BS that keeps on going around and around.”

Ken Bridge at his home in South Lismore in the aftermath of the devastating floods. Picture: Jason O'Brien

During the Hepburn Park debate last week, Mr Gordon called for the state government to put homeless flood victims in empty rental properties and subsidise their rent – which was not seriously considered.

“It’s about time that we dropped it and let the experts who are capable do it,” he said.

But Cr Peter Colby – who also voted down the pod village at Hepburn Park and Clifford Park – said it was the role of council to lead the Reconstruction Corporation and Resilience NSW and provide a conduit to engage with the community on where to put the housing.

Councillors Peter Colby, Jeri Hall, Vanessa Ekins, Darlene Cook, Electra Jensen, Andrew Bing, Big Rob and Adam Guise voted to invite the state government to a workshop to address the housing crisis of flood victims in Lismore.

Councillors Andrew Gordon and mayor Steve Krieg voted against.