Flood re-build in NSW Northern Rivers region to cost $3bn

Rebuilding flood-ravaged communities in the Northern Rivers region of NSW will cost roughly $3bn, according to preliminary estimates provided to the Perrottet government.

Lismore shows extensive flooding after the region experienced the worst floods in a century. Picture: NCA NewsWire

Rebuilding flood-ravaged communities in the Northern Rivers region of NSW will cost roughly $3bn, according to preliminary estimates provided to the Perrottet government.

Part of the 700-page NSW flood inquiry report, received by Premier Dominic Perrottet on July 31 but yet to be made public, the funding would go towards providing housing solutions after 4000 houses were damaged in the devastating floods in late February and March.

Mr Perrottet is expected to turn to the Albanese government for financial support to assist with the $3bn long-term rebuild, with the funding to be directed towards buyback and land-swap schemes, long-term asset rebuilds and economic recovery.

Based on estimates provided by the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation, the rebuild is expected to be similar to the Queensland government’s Grantham scheme, the response to the 2011 floods in the Lockyer Valley, albeit on a vastly larger scale.

In one of the worst recorded floods in the nation’s history, swathes of northern NSW and South East Queensland were hammered by unprecedented levels of rain, with 22 people known to have died during the natural disaster.

In Lismore, the epicentre of the crisis, piles of debris lined the city’s streets for months as residents began cleaning up and rebuilding in the aftermath.

The NSW flood inquiry was established to examine the state’s preparation and response to catastrophic flooding events.

Led by former NSW police commissioner Mick Fuller and NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer Mary O’Kane, the much-vaunted report will recommend dramatically scaling down the state’s recently established disaster response agency, Resilience NSW. The position of Shane ­Fitzsimmons, the organisation’s commissioner, is expected to be made redundant as part of the restructure.

Responsibilities of Resilience NSW will be farmed out to other departments, with the report recommending allocating emergency accommodation in evacuation centres to the Department of Communities and Justice

Former NSW transport minister Andrew Constance came to the defence of Mr Fitzsimmons in a video posted to social media, saying he “deserves better” than to be dumped by the NSW ­government.

“For goodness sake, this is a bloke who saved lives, who was there for my community and our state during Black Summer,” said Mr Constance.

The former NSW Bega MP took a swipe at Transport Minister David Elliott, his former cabinet colleague, after he visited London during the state’s apocalyptic 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires. “I know where the minister was during that period. He wasn’t in Australia. So I don’t get this,” he said.

With a budget of nearly $1bn, Resilience NSW had faced considerable criticism since its inception in April 2020, with questions raised about the money spent on external consultants and the sluggishness of its response to the March floods.