The Lismore App has been asking questions of the NSW Reconstruction Authority (NSWRA) in the last two weeks without much success.

On Wednesday, July 18, we asked for an update on the progress made to the Audit NSW recommendations from February 2024 following the announcement to close the Wollongbar Pod Village. This included developing a strategy to move people into long-term housing, among four other items. No comments related to Audit NSW were addressed.

Last Tuesday (July 16), the Lismore App asked the NSWRA to provide an update on the $150 million Northern Rivers Recovery and Resilience Progam (NRRR) that was announced in February 2023 by Federal Minister for Emergency Management Murray Watt, Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin and Mayor Steve Krieg. On that day, $50 million was funded by the Federal Government for Tranche 1 projects. Lismore received $42 million of the $50 million for its 14 flood mitigation projects.

At the time, Minister Watt described some of the projects listed (prioritised by the CSIRO) as "shovel-ready".

Ms Saffin said, “The bulk of this money ($42 million) is for upgrades and maintenance of local councils’ existing flood management infrastructure such as upgrading pumps and pump stations, and some road and bridge raisings."

For Lismore, the projects were:

1. Flood risk management infrastructure - upgrades and maintenance of existing flood management infrastructure - 14 proposals
2. Extra pump at Lower Hollingsworth pump station.
3. Increase capacity in Browns Creek pump station.
4. Power supply backups for all pump stations.
5. Raise pump control rooms/towers in all pump stations.
6. Refurbish Browns Creek flood gate.
7. Refurbish Upper Hollingsworth Creek flood gate.
8. New electric submersible pump station (x2) at levee near Snow Street and Thre Chain Road.
9. Install an electric pump station to replace the tractor driven pump at the rowing club to remove CBD stormwater. Will improve evacuation from the CBD and providing better access to critical infrastructure and emergency services.
10. Improved communications to critical infrastructure with capacity to install CCTV and advanced it solutions.
11. Trash racks will reduce the risk of rubbish and debris being washed/sucked into pump intakes and causing damage to pumps.

One week later, with the promise of an update was imminent as it was being 'checked', the Lismore App has not received a response from the NSWRA.

The Bureau of Meteorology has declared a La Niña Watch. The potential for a La Niña to develop would be later in spring.

If Lismore makes it to October without another flood, that would be two years since a flood (minor, medium or major) was declared.

The Lismore community still gets anxious when rain is forecast, especially on consecutive days of up to 25-30mm per day.

Why is there a reticence to give our community an update on projects that directly affect its residents? Is it that there has been no progress or little progress made in the last seventeen months, so silence is golden?

Lismore City Council was reluctant to comment on the project's progress because it is being rolled out by the NSWRA. So, no joy from LCC as well.

The new acting CEO of the NSWRA, Mal Lanyon, said, "The real need for the Reconstruction Authority is to work at some pace, deliver some outcomes, and get people back," when he spoke to us on May 24. That pace clearly doesn't include communication to media or the community.

Communication was a major criticism of the NRRC before it was incorporated into the NSWRA. If communication is still an issue, does the approval trail move to the ministerial level? So, this is a state government issue? After all, the state government funds the NSWRA.