‘Mental torture’: Flood victims refused buybacks after 16 months re-traumatised as they are forced to fight NRRC decision
Northern Rivers residents hit hard by the 2022 floods say they have faced more than a year of “mental torture” for nothing, as the NRRC refuses to reveal how many were declined a buyback.
Regional News
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Northern Rivers flood victims hanging out for housing help say they have been “tortured” and left in limbo after the deadly 2022 floods – and the agency controlling buybacks refuses to say how many have been knocked back.
Flood victims are furious and have accused the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation (NRRC) of using “smoke and mirror” tactics while managing flood recovery, complaining they have been treated like “garbage” from the outset.
The discontent spreads beyond Lismore, into the Richmond Valley, Tweed and wider northern NSW. At the weekend, flood victims from Richmond rallied to send a message to the government: “We’re sick of being invisible”.
It was always expected recovery would be fairly slow going, but residents have had enough.
Asked how many buybacks have been refused, the NRRC and NSW Reconstruction Authority would not say. It’s expected the number is in the hundreds or thousands.
It was recently revealed the NRRC would be absorbed into the Reconstruction Authority.
Chief executive officer Simon Draper changed the official number of people to be helped under the Resilient Homes program from 6000 to 2000 homes. The NRRC previously declared 6000 properties would be eligible for buybacks, house-raising, or retro-fitting.
Only 1100 buybacks will be “prioritised” and the rest will be raising or retrofits, with the current funding available.
Some survivors have since been told by the NRRC they will not be getting any assistance despite being in dire straits.
East Lismore’s Carlie Daley, a single mum of two, was told last week she would not be getting help, following 16 months of existing in a flood-ruined home.
She said maps released on June 13 showing where buybacks would be prioritised based on “greatest risk to life” indicated her property would be eligible.
“Then two weeks later to find out that you don't get anything … the whole process has been like mental torture,” she said.
Ms Daley said she has essentially been left destitute – the Resilient Homes program her last shred of hope after the floods.
“Everyone in Lismore thought that this help was coming. We were told this help was coming,” she said.
Ms Daley said the government forced her to wait in squalor when she could have spent more than a year working to repair her home.
“If I knew this government help wasn’t coming I would have just moved forward,” she said.
“I would have preferred to have just been told from the get go ‘you're not getting anything’.
“Then our lives would have been about six months to a year ahead of what they are now.”
About 6500 people have registered under the $700m Resilient Homes Package for assistance.
As of July 4, there had been 335 buybacks approved, 169 home buybacks accepted and 19 settlements completed, with the NRRC touting 60 buybacks in South Lismore.
South Lismore resident Julia Melvin does not own one of those 60.
Living on Elliott Rd, up against the Wilson River, she waited for 16 months for help, hoping the government would shift her home.
But Ms Melvin said she has been refused assistance.
She is just one furious South Lismore resident demanding answers after the NRRC classified future events in South Lismore as “low risk” – despite three people dying in the floods.
Emergency services were unable to reach stricken neighbourhoods to help.
Ms Melvin said she has been given false hope and demanded answers on the NRRC’s decision to knock her back, after releasing maps prioritising buybacks by “risk to life”, showing her property was severely affected.
Ms Melvin’s home still has mud on the walls and floor and she is still living in a caravan in her backyard.
Like Ms Daley and other survivors, Ms Melvin did not invest much time or money on her home since the disasters because she was waiting to find out more about support.
“It's almost like the flood isn’t such a bad thing. It’s the mental torture that you have to go through to realise that you’re not worth anything,” she said.
Ms Melvin said she felt there was “meanness and the nastiness” in handling of the recovery.
Ms Melvin and Ms Daley, as well as others refused aid, will have to go through a complex appeals process if they wish to fight the decision.
The state and federal governments led communities to believe last year that 2000 homes would be bought back – but that number was quietly cut to 1100 months later.
Lismore MP Janelle Saffin said she has been pushing the NSW Labor government, her party, to secure a flagged second funding tranche for the anticipated 2000 buybacks, 2000 retrofits and 2000 house raisings.
“I am working to make sure our community gets what was promised ... ,” she said.
“The Minns government inherited this messy situation three months ago, but they are backing me in and working to correct things. It's time to get things fixed.”
Mr Draper said 2000 homes were never going to be bought back with only $700 million – with more like $1.3 billion needed.
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