Flood-hit Northern Rivers region gains $800 million funding

The Federal and NSW Governments will provide $800 million to the Northern Rivers region for home-raising, retrofitting and buy backs following the devastating flooding earlier this year, while Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says National Cabinet will take a closer look at planning issues.

Around 2000 homeowners will be eligible for the Northern Rivers program, which will include assistance of up to $100,000 for house raising, or up to $50,000 for retrofitting in areas where flood risk can be reduced by better building standards.

Voluntary buy backs will be offered to residents in the most vulnerable areas where major flooding would pose a catastrophic risk to life.

NSW will provide $100 million to acquire land and open up safe locations for future development, with the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation conducting an expression of interest process to identify suitable land.

Mr Albanese said last week that NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet would be leading a discussion on planning issues at the next meeting of National Cabinet.

“We have agreement about planning, to do better, to make sure that we’re not building on floodplains,” Mr Albanese told reporters. “And I’ve asked the Premier to lead discussion at the National Cabinet about how we make sure that planning gets better right around our country.”

Mr Perrottet also says it’s important that infrastructure built back after catastrophes is constructed to more resilient standards.

“I’ll work with every local council across the state to make sure when we build back, we build back in a more resilient way so when these events happen again, we have greater protection for our people,” he said.

The Northern Rivers funding program, which was welcomed by insurers, is targeted at residents in the local government areas of Lismore, Ballina, Byron, Clarence Valley, Kyogle, Richmond Valley and Tweed.

“[The] announcement is a necessary and significant investment in better protecting communities at most risk of flood, and demonstrates that both the Federal and NSW Governments understand the scale and complexity of the policy solutions required to begin to address this worsening threat,” Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) CEO Andrew Hall said.