Member for Lismore and Minister for Recovery, North Coast and Small Business, Janelle Saffin, sat down for a Talking Lismore podcast on Friday to talk about buyback auctions, house raising & retrofits, future land use, Resilient Lands Program and more.

Ms Saffin spoke about the increased number of houses that will be sold before Christmas, 42 in total.

"It is moving forward very quickly. As Minister, I said, steamroll the selling. The RA had one real estate agent, so I said Get more. If one can't handle that many or share it around, get more. So we've got three.

"On the 7th of October, there will be 12, then there's another 22, in November, and some more coming. So it's great. People are interested Australia-wide. It's surprising how many people have contacted me and said, What's this about? They're really interested in it. They haven't seen it before.

"There's a lot of interest, and a lot of younger families are interested, because they either can afford a block and then move it. And a couple I know who've done that, they've got young kids, they told me it is a lot less expensive, cheaper than going out, and buying a house as is. And there's some who are moving onto farms as a secondary dwelling, particularly in our LGA. So it's an opportunity to get into the housing market, and we know how tough that is."

When asked about the negative comments around House Removal companies buying multiple houses to on-sell, Ms Saffin said, "I'd rather them buy them than not, because I want them sold and they will be reused, they will be recycled. They will on sell them to someone, so it will go to a local family. They're hanging on to them. That's how I see it."

House raising and retrofits are not on the same upward trajectory. They appear to be taking a long time to get going.

"It has quickened up a bit, because I've seen about 460 odd assessments done, and they'll do well over 1000 assessments, even more than that. So that is moving along again. I asked if that could be sped up, and just do as many as you can in a week.

"So look, sometimes I just say, Get your skates on, because I want it done quickly, things like that. And I'm well aware that quite often they just don't have the people who can do it. There's people around, but they're booked up elsewhere.

When asked if bureaucracy was also part of the problem, Ms Saffin replied, "Half and half, I would say."

Workshops for Future Land Use were announced during the week. A sign that Lismore was starting to look to the future rather than the rearview mirror.

"That really pleased me. I said, This is a chance for renewal. 2022 was thrust upon us. This one we can do ourselves. We can say, we can renew. We can reimagine what Lismore will be like with houses gone, but with more open space. What do we do with it? And it doesn't preclude some of the business and the light industrial, but people building back or building in a way that is flood-resistant.

"We still want our car boot market back, albeit in a different place, but we still want that back, and we'll need to have that big roof. I'd suggested Richmond River High School. Other people have said they want something else there. I don't mind, but let's get back that market.

"And the big thing for me was, let's connect each other so we'll still have a South identity, a North identity, an East, a CBD, light industrial surrounds, but we'll be connected, and that's what I'm hoping will come out of our precincts,

"It would be lovely to have a footbridge. Now, some people tell me it can't happen, some say it can, but let's have the discussion. We'll have nice walkways coming from the precincts into town, that's important, and walkways and bikeways. One of the things we often struggle with, if you watch people walking around Lismore, is someone with a pram or in a wheelchair."

The Resilient Lands Program has been frustratingly slow, especially Mt Pleasant Estate in Goonellabah. Does the Minister feel that, too?

"I'm local, so of course, I'm frustrated, and I've been assured that will happen by year's end, so by 2026, people will be able to buy and move there. And I keep saying, Hurry up, hurry up. So I'm really clear on that. I feel like you with that.

"North Lismore. It's in a legal process, so I can't quicken that one. But that will be great when that happens. And we'll have Richmond River High there.

"Then with the land, the Crawford Road land, RA own it, and Landcom are getting it ready. I'm told that they will break ground soon. I emailed and asked for Landcom to give me an update, and I got an email back saying that will happen soon. As soon as I get that update, I'll let people know or ask them to make it public."

Since taking over as Minister for Recovery at the end of March this year, Ms Saffin was thrust into the flooding on the Mid North Coast and Hunter Valley. With her Northern Rivers experience, she got to thinking about the big picture.

"There are some priorities where I want the Reconstruction Authority to be, the recovery to be. I said we need a very particular Recovery Road Map, because, understandably, as a community, we did it, we all do it, we want everything after a disaster. But what can any government do, no matter who they are? What are the main things we do? How do the disaster relief funding arrangements work? What do we get from it? What does the state do? What does the federal, what do local do? Just so, at the outset, we say in recovery these are the things that are done.

"Works underway on that. What I do as minister is let it be known some of my intentions, and that's one of them, with the personal hardship payments that people get that's administered through Service New South Wales. They do a pretty good job. But I really want that in the community, because they know the communities best. You've got neighbourhood centres, a lot of them all over the state. We have partners, like the Salvation Army, St Vincent de Paul, Anglicare and Australian Red Cross. Now, they might not want to do it, but certainly they could be involved in the personal hardship payments.

"I really want community to be at the centre, and that's a good way. So there are some things like that that I've started to work on that's not formally announced in any way, but it's stuff I've got underway and looking to get some support.

"The other thing is, whole of government. The Reconstruction Authority is a coordinating agency, and every other agency is involved. Mal Lanyon and I did a lot more work on that, so that it wasn't just the RA, it was every other agency, and I've even got some of them excited, and to be at the table earlier.

"The other thing is, recovery starts with response. They used to wait till the formal handover, and now it's no, we've got a disaster or an impending disaster, recoveries are there, side by side. So just some of those things, working through those. Of course, I've lost Mal Lanyon now.

With the recruitment process in place, what do you look for in a CEO for the RA?

"Three things: compassion, a communicator and competent in whatever they do. So they're the three things I look for in a person's particular experience. It may be from a combat agency. It may not be. It may be someone who's worked in any area, but they've got to have those three and understand, really understand, the community when these disasters happen. It's not a physical rebuild and repair; it's also psychological. There's a whole lot of things to it. And be able to give reassuranc. Mal was able to give that.

Ms Saffin said the recruitment process will be around three months. Until then, the acting CEO is Kate Meagher.

She has those qualities. She is competent, she's compassionate, and she's a good communicator. When Kate was in the Premier's Department, she had a role in emergency management, because there's a team in there who also work on that, and I liaised with them in 2022. When I said I need people here on the ground, a lot more people, she brought them in from everywhere, and she was there herself.

"She never said to anyone, Look, I'm from here, this is who I am. She was just there quietly on the ground. The same in the mid north coast and Hunter, same thing in the recovery centres, just working away, checking, making sure things were working. She knows this space really well."

There is more discussed in the Talking Lismore podcast (via the App or https://talkinglismore.buzzsprout.com/ via the website), such as what Ms Saffin enjoys when she attends the Lismore Show and her show BBQ.