Newly re-elected Member for Page Kevin Hogan and Mayor of Lismore Steve Krieg joined forces to call on the State Government to co-contribute $50 million to the Anchor Business Support Package which was announced by the Federal Government two months ago.

What this means for our city and region is the potential loss of businesses like NORCO Ice Cream which employs 230 people.

When asked about the job losses if the State Government does not match the $50 million Mr Hogan said, "If you add them up, they will be in the thousands."

"Look, this disaster was of such a magnitude that we had to sort of almost forecast what some of the ramifications are. Look at NORCO as one example because it is a public one, but there are many others. The damage done to that factory was significant. They are a significant employer with 230 employees at that factory, also important to the local dairy farmers and it's a processing plant. There's a lot of money invested there. They have to weigh up do they reinvest in this community and we know they were going to need encouragement."

Simly put the $50 million from the Federal Government is not enough to keep NORCO going. It has received financial support and will continue to do so until June 30 when that support ends.

"My understanding is that if we don't get a co-contribution from the state government with this, Norco will be closing the ice cream factory in Lismore and that is unacceptable."

The co-contribution would see the total reach $100 million for this Anchor Support Business Package which Mr Hogan said, "Norco would be fine and there would be a lot of money to hand out to others."

Mayor Steve Krieg was asked his thoughts if the state government does not match the $50 million

"I'm worried about our community to be honest with you. The reason that I'm standing next to Kevin for me is not political. Our community is hurting and you know when there's piles of rubbish getting moved out of the CBD and there's really good photo opportunities everyone seems to be here, but we seem to have really hit a flat spot."

"All of these announcements seem to get made early and we're twelve weeks after the biggest natural disaster in NSW history and there are still people not receiving one cent of government assistance. There's talk of these industries that have held our community together for the last 150 years, who are threatening to pack up and leave all because of bureaucratic bullying I guess."

"Whatever the case maybe, we were promised the help. I take the state government on their word for that promise but now we need to see the action because our community is really hurting."

"Now the camera's are off Lismore so to speak, this is actually when the real work begins in the rebuilding and the reconstruction stage."

Mayor Krieg has been on the phone to the Office of Local Government discussing rate relief as a local council issue but an important part of keeping residents in the local government area.

"I've been promised this morning that that announcement will be made by early next week, which is really good but people have got their rates notices already and they're panicking, that the reality "how can I pay my rates on a home that's unliveable with money I don't have because my job is gone. There are the realities of everyday life in Lismore at the moment."

"We have to keep the focus on the humanity of this tragedy. Yeah, it's about buildings and it's about infrastructure but it's also about people's lives and livelihoods and to lose such a core business like NORCO in Lismore scares the absolute bejesus out of me to be honest because NORCO is Lismore and Lismore is NORCO."

"Not only that it's the macca producers and the other agri businesses. I've developed a good relationship with the John Deere guys who are an international company that want to make Lismore the focal point of their north coast operation. They're really struggling, they're not eligible for a lot of these other grants that have been announced. That's why this besoke package is so important to our region so these things can get accelerated so that people can access the funds that were promised to them ten, eleven, twelve weeks ago."

Like many flood-affected residents the frustration and the disappointment of inaction, for whatever reason, is starting to show on the mayor as he fights for his community.

"It's depressing, I hate to use the word, but it's depressing," Mayor Krieg said, "It hasn't bloody stoped raining in 12 weeks, the weather makes people depressed but the fact that your living in or trying to rebuild a home that's an absolute mess, the insurance companies aren't being very friendly so it's bloody dressing in and around Lismore at the moment. All the attention has sort of left us now, which is understandable, we're not part of the news cycle but all of these announcements that were made early on really need to start coming to fruition really, really soon if we are going to see Lismore take off again."

The Anchor Support Business Support Package was announced when larger companies suffered significantly higher losses than the $200,000 Medium Business Package on the 18th of March. In a public meeting with the Northern NSW Flood Recovery Coordinator Mal Lanyon on Aril 14, a number of businesses such as Lickiss Fabrications were mentioning losses of over $1 million.

Landlords have still not received an indication whether they will get any government support, in a time when rebuilding the CBD is necessary to bring the people back so the money can flow once again.

Premier Dominc Perrottet and Minister for Emergency Services and Resilience and Minister for Flood Recovery Steph Cooke, over to you.