As Lismore's flood recovery gains momentum, Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin sat down to record another Talking Lismore Podcast. Ms Saffin talked about the flood recovery, so the Resilient Homes Program (house raisings and retrofits) and the Land Program (North Lismore Plateau) and the closure of the Wollongbar Pod Village.

Ms Saffin was obviously pleased with the official announcement by Ministers Scully and Dib for the House Raisings and Retrofits getting underway but did say Lismore can expect to have less work done in this space than Byron and Tweed Councils.

"I don't know the exact amount, but I do know there are hundreds already interested, and that is right across the region. It appears to be a larger number in the Byron LGA, Tweed LGA, Clarence LGA and Richmond Valley LGA because obviously a lot of buybacks happened in Lismore."

The most recent Resilient Lands announcement was for approximately 85 new blocks to be established in North Lismore, with buyback homeowners given priority to move onto the site when the infrastructure work has been completed. Can we anticipate more blocks to be released in the coming months?

"I see it as a start because, obviously, there's quite a bit of land there. 85 is a start, and we were able to secure one portion of what I call uncontested land there. So, that is a good start and clearly there can be more."

The North Lismore Resilient Land site was the first time that the state government had compulsory acquired land for the benefit of the region. Will we see more cases of this in the future when master plans are developed and released with only one or two houses on a street?

"It was a case of the government making a decision. Everybody is committed to Lismore surviving and thriving, and one way of getting the 85 lot development was to say we are going to do a compulsory acquisition, and that was done. I know it is too slow, it's too slow for our community, and it's too slow for me looking at what's going to happen with that land and the houses, but there is a lot of work being done that I would like to see announced blow by blow what is being done. I hope that the RA is in a position to do that because there is some good work going on about what to do with it.

"I've listened to radio programs; everybody has ideas; I Googled it and came up with 50 ideas of what you could do (laughs). I have looked at what they've done worldwide. Some people have talked about community gardens and I've said that will last three weeks. That just won't work. I know people who are staying in those neighbourhoods, I'd be inclined to offer the land to them."

Ms Saffin shared some ideas as to what the land could be used for.

"Sporting fields, recreation areas, areas that, if impacted by flood, it is not going to cause a great deal of damage. Walking tracks is one, and people on bikes is another. There is just a multitude of things that I thought could work. Community gardens are lovely, but they take a lot of effort and a lot of commitment. They don't always work.

The plans for creating wonderful community spaces should be part of a Lismore Vision document. There has been work started on the Northern Rivers Joint Organisation vision, which incorporates the seven LGAs. What is the latest news here?

"Two things. People have said that we need a Master Plan for the Northern Rivers following on from the disaster. As part of the Northern Rivers Joint Organisation, council's said they would like CSIRO to do the vision. We already have CSIRO doing the work on what we can mitigate, and there is a division within the CSIRO that can look at economic and social plans.

"I went and met them, spent a couple of hours with them, and outlined what we were thinking here, what agreement we have with RA and NEMA, the federal agency, and that project has started. I said I wanted to make sure that the NRRI, that's the mitigation part of the CSIRO project was in there, so we go lock step together. That's there, we'll have CSIRO there and we'll have the Living Lab as well because they're local and they're international.

"We'll be doing an exercise on the vision in a couple of weeks. We'll all be together. The elected leaders saying this is our vision. My vision is very simple. An economically and environmentally sustainable Northern Rivers. Everyone got caught up in the vision. I think it's very simple but we all have to agree on it. And then you do the Master Plan. I said we should have three major ideas for the Northern Rivers, and then the seven LGAs may have another three major ideas for their own area. Then we look at all the other plans, and it gives us an advocacy tool. And it gives confidence too."

When asked if we will see a first draft of the Master Plan before the end of 2024, Ms Saffin replied "Yes".

"It's a bit like herding cats," she laughed, "You have seven LGAs, seven mayors, seven councils, four state MPs and two federal MPs. Getting us all together is difficult, but the will is there, and the commitment is there."

The Northern Rivers Recovery and Resilience Program (NRRRP) was announced in two Tranches. The first was in February 2023, when the CSIRO released its interim report, and the second was in July 2023. Lismore received the bulk of Tranche 1, which was $50 million for fourteen low-level flood recovery and mitigation projects to be implemented by the NSWRA. We haven't seen any work in this space, what is the latest?

"Look, there is action. The RA aren't very good at letting people know what they are doing. There are 36 projects on a website, and it has a fact sheet on each one, but it's nice if someone talks to you.

Are we better prepared for another flood than we were at the start of 2022?

"The SES are far better prepared. My comments are on the record about the SES at the highest level at the time of the big flood. We have had two minor events up here, and I saw how well the SES were really prepared. Normally, we would wait until the BOM put out everything directly, they would say to the community these are the indications, so let's get ready. They did that a hell of a lot quicker, and it was fantastic. So, yes, we are better prepared in that sense, but we still need to do a lot more to be fully prepared for a big disaster.

"There has also been a lot of work done through DCJ (Department of Communities and Justice) for evacuation and evacuation centres etc. I've seen all of that, and it's really good work as well."

What about the BOM warning system? That was one of the biggest complaints from residents after February 28 2022. Have they made improvements to their system?

"I've got no idea. I do know there is someone from them embedded in the SES now, and when those other events I talked about happened, I was in the briefings with the SES and the BOM. The SES are actually saying okay, this is indicative coming, so let's get ready. They're actually going early, and that's what we need.

"Early warning saves lives and money. I've had a look at it, particularly with the European Union, and it's the one big thing we really have to focus on. This is something that the RA will be charged to do, particularly with the Disaster Adaptation Plan, which they have to do under the law of the State Mitigation Plan."

It was recently announced that the Wollongbar Pod Village will close. Is this the first of staged closures for the rest of the Northern Rivers Pod villages?

(The Wollongbar Pod Village in May 2022)

"Look, it will be. The first thing I'll say is that if you are living there and you came out of the big flood, I understand why people would want to stay there. A lot of that land was rented temporarily, and Wollongbar was the first. Every agency is working together; Homes NSW, Community Housing Providers, and RA are there saying what can we do to offer you alternative accommodation.

"I also get that some people at the time were paying $320 a week rent in the areas they were and now it might be $450 or $550. So, I've said a few things; we will have to subsidise rents for people, I've suggested we offer some of those pods to people if they have family or land they could take it on to. I've also said to the media it's not about evicting them.

"Everybody's working to make sure they have somewhere to go to. It won't be easy, of course. We are in a dreadful housing situation, a dreadful rental market, but the government's given a commitment to social housing, and I'm also working with other community housing providers and saying let's just buy some.

The flip side of the discussion is that people have been living rent-free for two years and should have saved some money for this very situation.

"The community leaders forum actually said that there should be a charge and put that aside for the transition to alternative accommodation."

As far as the East Lismore Pod Village is concerned, Ms Saffin said nothing will happen this year, and nothing has been agreed, but it will likely close sometime in 2025.

You can hear the full chat with Janelle Saffin by heading to the Lismore App Podcasts 'Talking Lismore', which is also available here through the website.