The invitation was sent out to Chris Minns to visit Lismore in the first weeks of becoming the new Premier of NSW following his party's win at the March 25 State Election. That invitation was accepted, as the new Premier walked the CBD block with Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin and Mayor Steve Krieg earlier today, ten days after winning office.

There were no big announcements or promises made, it was simply a visit to walk, talk and learn how Lismore is rebuilding.

"It's fantastic to have him here," Janelle Saffin said as he introduced the Premier inside the Living Lab, "As soon as I knew that he would be Premier, I sent him a message via text and said you must visit us as soon as possible. I was very happy to see that he went out to Menindee where the fish kill was and the second visit out in the regions is with us. And that shows us that the Minns government is concerned about our area, concerned about our needs, concerned about our rebuild and recovery, which is a long-term project."

Ms Saffin's words were echoed by the Premier when he stood in front of the microphone, "This trip has been, as Janelle identified, an opportunity for the incoming government to say to the community in Lismore in the Northern Rivers that they won't be forgotten. It's over a year since the devastating floods hit this part of New South Wales. It's really important that the new government sends a message to the businesses, to the community who live in this part of New South Wales that we are there with them for the long haul. We know the rebuilding effort is going to take many years. We know the capital and investment from the New South Wales Government and the Commonwealth Government must continue to flow so that Lismore can rebuild and that we made sure that promises made are promises kept, even if those promises were made by a previous government of a different political persuasion."

The Premier lauded the efforts of all political leaders that have put politics aside so Lismore could have an absolute focus and priority to rebuild our community.

'So, I'm here to listen, to make changes where we think that there's been problems or deficiencies and to ensure that this community knows that it's not going to be forgotten, just because of the change of government in New South Wales."

Mayor Steve Krieg acknowledged nerves with a change of government, "You always get a little bit nervous when there's a change in government because there's always a change of priorities. That's why when I met Chris, for the first time, I said, you need to come up here and understand for yourself what's been undertaken, what's been started, because this is a long journey, this is a 10-year rebuild that's been set off. Regardless of who's in power in the day, it's important for the people of Lismore to know that the government, both state and federally have got our backs and are going to work to rebuild our community."

After working with the Perrottet government since February 28 2022, Ms Saffin was asked what she would like to change in the approach to the recovery now there is a new government. The answer was one that Ms Saffin has told the Lismore App on numerous occasions and is supported by Federal Member for Page Kevin Hogan and Mayor Krieg.

"What I'd like to see change is more transparency in what the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation are doing, and feel our sense of urgency, but at the same time, we have to work with the community about expectations and give realistic timelines. So I'd like to see some of that happen. And I'd really appreciate it if the NRRC could lay out their program of works over the next week or two. I know what they are, the mayor knows what they are, but the community needs to know what they are. I've said I hope that they're now let off the hook so that they can communicate really well with our community because they were created for us."

Ms Saffin said she was assured that this will now change.

NRRC CEO David Witherdin was at the press conference in the Living Lab on Woodlark Street. As he mentioned in our earlier story today (NRRC CEO David Witherdin says activity will ramp up in the next three months), Mr Witherdin said "We're well and truly ready to go there in terms of pushing out a whole host more information and look forward to working with our new minister when they're appointed as a part of that."

We now know the Minister for Regional NSW is Tara Moriarity who takes over from the National Party's leader and former Deputy Premier and former Minister for Regional NSW Paul Toole.

With Ms Saffin sounding extremely optimistic about the change and Mr Witherdin ready to make the change, the people of Lismore should have an early win under the belt already. Watch this space for some more NRRC news.

As for Janelle Saffin's wins in the coming months and years now she is part of the government and not the opposition?

"Some of the little local commitments like the toilet block at Nimbin, they've wanted that for 15 years and Steve (Krieg) was just saying how good that was. They're little things but the big thing obviously, the build to rent, but also working for what I call our recovery and our reimagination because we have to reimagine. We're standing here in the Living Lab, they've got all the contacts, all the networks, all the tools to help us reimagine because if you look around here, you can see there's domestic examples, that's Australian, international ones, of where people live on the floodplains. How they do (that). We can't have an abandonment, we can have a retreat but then we do other things, so we need to work on that vision."

"I know the NRRC and Lismore City Council have done some work on that, I really need to have Living Lab front and centre of that. That's what I want to see for our whole community. That will benefit everyone, not just people who are smashed by the floods, that will benefit all and some stimulus into our economy. If we don't have the economy vibrant, we can't protect the environment, we can't do all those other things, we can't look after our farmers, our rivers, all of that."

Ms Saffin went on to talk about time frames and managing our expectations.

"This is going to be slower than we would like and to people who are still in a caravan living in a bit of a shell of a house, I say to them we're with you, and we'll do everything we can to change that as quick as we can but mindful, these things do take some time."

When asked about his thoughts on the Lismore rebuild Premier Minns did say that promises made on the ground need to be delivered. He spoke about the $1.6 billion dollars that was pledged by the NSW Stage Government before Christmas and the delay in getting the money out the door and in the hands of the right people in our region to help businesses.

"Obviously for us now, the time for promises are over and it's now moving into a delivery stage. So promises are over. Now we know we have to deliver, but I think we've got the team in place to get that done."

When asked about the possibility of increasing the Resilient Homes and Lands funding, identified by some sources as an extra $200 million, the Premier replied, "We will be talking with the mayor, the general manager and of course our local MP Janelle about that approach. We need to understand how much money has been committed and being put out the door. Roughly in terms of relocation grants, it's about $350 million from the state, it's matched by the commonwealth with the same amount."

"The number of people that have applied for those grants is in excess of that figure. So, you're going to have to let us get our feet under the table, take briefings and work out the best way of ensuring that grant relocation funds are being distributed to this community because we want to make sure we've got a growing and resilient Lismore that's here for the next 100, 200, 300 years....and beyond.