The official announcement that NSW Police Force Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon was the new head of the NSW Reconstruction Authority (NSWRA) was well-received by all levels of government.

Mr Lanyon is no stranger to Lismore, having played an integral role in the days and weeks after the February 2022 big flood as NSW Recovery Coordinator.

That experience will help him in his new CEO role, as he told the Lismore App.

"Yes, I think very much so. I think relationships in the community, and the role of the RA, is to work very closely with councils and community to make sure we are working with them to deliver recovery and reconstruction. And I think having those relationships is very beneficial."

"It's also been really useful for me to come back up here now and reimagine exactly what I saw all that time ago to see how much progress and how much positivity there is in the community too."

When you have seen Lismore at its worst, then revisit our city two years later, you have a fresh perspective on the flood recovery.

"It's very much how vibrant the CBD is at the moment compared to when I was last here. There was obviously a number of shops reopening, but I think to actually go through the CBD and see what's happening is fantastic. We had dinner in town last night. There were a lot of people in that restaurant, still a lot of people moving around restaurants on a Wednesday night."

Mr Lanyon also noticed the way Lismore businesses have rebuilt their shops and stores.

"Just the sort of adaptation that has already taken place with businesses. So, where there used to be carpet in there, I think we've gone back to some of the more historic polished concrete on the floor, which to me is fantastic and really taking advantage of the historical parts of the town, that are more flood resilient. And the modular design, so they'll have cabinets that can be rolled out."

"These are just really sensible changes. I think that reflects, probably, the environment, but then really allows people to say they have some confidence back in their business."

It has been about six weeks since Mal Lanyon started in his new role. What have you noticed, and what improvements can be made?

"I think one of the things for the community, obviously, is that it has taken time, and we're acutely aware of the fact that the community are going through a very difficult phase. There are still a lot of people that are out of homes, a lot of people in temporary accommodation, the real need for the Reconstruction Authority to work with some pace, deliver some outcomes and get people back."

"I think it's really important to indicate what we are doing is on a scale that is probably unparalleled. This is the third most costly disaster that's happened in Australia. What's important about that? If you think about Cyclone Tracy, which devastated Darwin, it's a fairly easy job to do. You're basically just reconstructing homes as they sit. With Lismore and a lot of the surrounding areas here living in a floodplain, there's been a lot of talk about, do we do buybacks? How do we actually make sure that people are safer? How do we make sure the community goes again?"

"So, certainly I would wish, I know it's certainly the Reconstruction wish is that we had been able to deliver quicker. But I think it's really important to come from an environment that we make sure that the settings are right and so that we can deliver quickly now."

To Mr Lanyon's point on Cyclone Tracy, it took the Darwin Reconstruction Commission three years to rebuild the city. We know the Christchurch earthquake disaster took ten years. Christchurch involved a number of areas being classified as red zones where housing could no longer be built so new construction needed to occur in new areas of the city.

When looking at time frames, it appears more certain that the Lismore rebuild will also be around the eight to ten-year mark. You cannot quickly rebuild six hundred homes and the infrastructure that goes with it.

As for the Resilient Homes Program, what is the latest update? Will you see more money coming forward in Tranche 2?

"I think what's really important at the moment is that we focus on working through that first tranche. So, at pace now, it's about how we actually go through the buybacks and then the raising and retrofits. In terms of the buybacks, we've had 773 offers, of which 623 have been accepted, so we're continuing to work through that process there."

"Raising and retrofit, when I spoke to you before about the complexity of the program, making sure that it was designed, you will start to see that at pace. There's about 350 properties that have been probably targeted in the first instance for that program, but in the background, there have been a number of home assessments conducted with the contractor to make sure that homeowners actually have the choice of how they go forward with that program."

"Raising is a more timely process than retrofit. You'll certainly see a lot of retrofit start to come forward quite quickly. In the meantime, in terms of preparedness, and it's one of the things that I absolutely understand how the community will be feeling. I think every time it probably rains up here, the community, quite rightly, are anxious about what that's going to look like for the future."

"There's a lot of work being done in community preparedness based by the combat agencies like the SES, but certainly in terms of the RA and our responsibility for recovery, how much more forward-leaning we've been. I was very fortunate the first week I was in this role, not fortunate for the communities, but I was able to see flooding in the Hawkesbury Nepean Valley, flooding in the Shoalhaven/Illawarra and just see how much more forward leaning both the emergency services were, and the RA, to actually basically commence recovery simultaneously."

"Those activities that seem to take a lot of time up here the first time this happened back in '22, you can really see how much more forward leaning the Reconstruction Authority are now. And that's going to be our real focus. It's going to be about recovery at pace. So, you're quite rightly pointing out that it has taken time to get to this raising and retrofit program. I think that complexity is something that is really important to point out. It's not that we have not wanted to get this going, I think it's about because it's a pioneering program. It's about getting it right. and then delivering it at pace. So, the community will see an increase in the pace of delivery of that program."

The Resilient Land Program has moved forward in the past two months with some announcements and another one yesterday?

"I think the first couple, with SCU and Mount Pleasant, there was a real concern right across the Northern Rivers that it may have been to Lismore centric. You've seen the one at Byron and today at Richmond Valley. The focus for us is to announce as quickly as we possibly can and start getting that information out there so that the community and those that are affected can really start planning for the future. We want to give options to people".

Fairy Hill is about 10kms north of Casino and 40kms from Lismore and is another substantial parcel of land with up to 1,500 blocks available. What kind of people will take that offer up?

"The first part we need to do is make sure that the planning is done properly for the infrastructure that supports it, because, as you know, water, sewerage and those sort of things need to be done well. I think it will be attractive to a range of the community. I think there will probably be some people that will get flood-free land and land that's probably a slightly different lifestyle, but within the beautiful places that they like to live. It gives them options, and that's probably the most important thing if you think about the releases so far and the releases still to come; it's going to provide a range of options, particularly for those people in the Resilient Homes program.

In terms of affordability, will it be within reach of someone who may have received $500,00 to $550,000 for a buyback?

"Part of the focus, and to be honest, part of the challenge with getting this program together and why it's taken some time to get the settings right, is there's a range of factors that need to be considered. You certainly can't over float the market. So, the last thing we want to do is create an artificial price within the market. It then makes housing more unaffordable."

"So, if we were to go in and pay too much for land, then put houses on it and had a value that was well in excess of the rest of the market, it over inflates the property values. There's been a lot of work in that space. I would expect the new announcement will certainly be more affordable than some of the other areas. But we're very mindful of making sure that whatever we do is consistent with the buyback. So, what people are getting for their buybacks, and that's really been part of the work, what you're getting for, the buyback is anticipated to pay for the land and for the house. Where there's an adjustment, it's unlikely to be significant and I think there's really been a target to make sure that the impact on those that are affected is as limited as possible."

What about the next Lismore announcement? When will we see that happen?

"I don't want to pre-empt that one, but I think when I said progressing at pace, I think you can be very confident you'll be hearing something very, very soon."