Resilience NSW leaves almost $400 million in grant money unspent

Senior executives at the state’s embattled disaster management agency are being paid an eye-watering sum, while little more is being spent on building resilience.

The state’s embattled disaster management agency handed out less than $6 million in grants specifically for building resilience to natural disasters last financial year but left ­almost $400 million unspent.

The Daily Telegraph can also reveal almost 15 per cent of employees at Resilience NSW are “senior executives,” who together earned $2.96 million in salaries last year.

The revelations will increase pressure on the billion dollar agency which is already at risk of being wound up amid criticism of how it responded to the recent flooding disaster.

Resilience NSW’s annual report reveals it allocated just $525.5 million in grants and subsidies in 2020-2021, despite having over $925 million to spend. Of that money, only $375 million actually went out the door. And while the agency is named Resilience NSW, the vast majority of the grants it handed out went to disaster ­response – not preparation.

It allocated $485 million to government agencies “for response and recovery activities” but less than $6 million in grants designed for “building resilience to natural disasters”.

Almost $35 million was allocated to non-government organisations “to enhance their operational and rescue capabilities”. And questions have been raised about why the agency employs so many ­bureaucratic fat cats.

Fifteen of the agency’s employees are public service senior executives, which across government earn on an average of $257,000 per year.

Resilience NSW Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons. Picture: NCA Newswire/ Gaye Gerard

The agency – established by former Premier Gladys Berejiklian without the support of then-Treasurer Dominic Perrottet and Deputy Premier John Barilaro – boasts an “executive leadership structure” of 26 people.

The structure includes former RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons as the head.

It means there is one executive for every three non-­executive staff in the agency.

The agency’s response to the most recent floods will be part of a widespread government review into the natural disaster, with several senior ministers questioning its value.

Labor’s Emergency Services spokesman Jihad Dib has called for “detailed scrutiny” of its budget, after the flood ­response fell “well short of community expectations”.

“You have to ask the question, where is the money going and is it value for the NSW taxpayer?” he said.

The small township of Coraki, south of Lismore, was one of the hardest hit during the recent floods. Picture: Toby Zerna

In a statement, a Resilience NSW spokeswoman said the “majority” of the grants underspend related to Disaster Response grants.

“These underspends were carried forward into future financial years,” she said.

The spokeswoman said the $5.95 million in grants for resilience came from a specific program co-funded with the commonwealth.

The difference between grant money allocated and cash leaving the agency was attributed to accounting methods including where Resilience NSW was still waiting to receive an invoice for money spent.