Premier Chris Minns has gone hard on illegal Pine Street squatters at today's media briefing in Sydney and a solution is now imminent as he declared the houses will be removed.

The Premier said he was unaware of the illegal squatters moving into reclaimed NSW Government properties.

"Now the government has spent $900 million of taxpayer funds to remove people from very flood-prone areas of the Lismore region. These are flood-prone low-lying areas where the household elected to move out, to move to higher ground, and the house would effectively be condemned so that the community could be safe and we could reduce the exposure of affected communities and families in the event of a natural disaster.

"Look, unbeknownst to me in all candour, I wasn't aware that we were currently in court trying to execute eviction notices on some members of those communities when Tropical Cyclone Alfred emerged in the last week. This is a completely unacceptable set of circumstances. It's not tolerable to have so many people located in flood-prone land still in danger, and have SES personnel volunteers have to go and check on those households, check on those communities to keep them safe.

"We bought those houses so that we could keep communities safe, so that no one would live there, and to have squatters move in off the back of that is completely unacceptable. So I've made a decision in conjunction with the Reconstruction Authority, that we are going to demolish those houses.

"We're going to make sure that these communities are safe and we can't have an intolerable situation where large numbers of people are in harm's way after New South Wales taxpayers have spent millions of dollars trying to make the community safer. I can't have a situation where, when a tropical cyclone or the next flood hits Lismore, we are checking on houses that should be vacant as a result of millions of dollars that we've already spent that will take place in the coming weeks, but it's absolutely necessary that we do it.

"We're not trying to exacerbate the housing issues in the Northern Rivers. Indeed, we've spent millions and millions of dollars on homelessness services in the Northern Rivers, as well as emergency accommodation and social housing as part of the New South Wales government's budget. But the housing problems are not going to be solved by moving people into flood-prone land. We have to draw a line in the sand here, and that means demolishing those houses and ensuring that we can get on with life in the Northern Rivers."

As most of the Lismore community knows, this has been an ongoing situation that has escalated in the last twelve months.

The Premier was asked why he was not informed of the situation by Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin, his response was:

"We have many conversations with Janelle. You'd appreciate that when you've got a massive natural disaster in the community, you're talking about all kinds of things, financial assistance, you're also speaking about recovery programs, ou're also speaking about businesses in downtown Lismore getting back on their feet. I mean, I'm just being candid about what I was aware of. I had no idea there was such an extensive network of squatters in the community.

"It's subsequently been brought to my attention that there were meetings that took place between the squatters collective and government officials about how to get them out of these houses, including having them jump the queue for social housing and jump to the front of the queue. And that's completely unacceptable.

(A Pine Street squatter meeting on February 12 this year when the RA was to turn the water off)

"I can't have a situation where we're putting people in harm's way who are on the flood plain after New South Wales taxpayers have paid money to get them out of those houses. We have to take action."

As locals know, the NSWRA (Reconstruction Authority) had met a number of times with the illegal squatters, and even tried to turn the water off permanently with police in attendance, with no result to remove the squatters.

Premier Minns said he thought the meetings were with the RA, and ultimately accepted blame for the situation.

"But you have to understand the RA is responsible for thousands of things, particularly when you've got a complicated natural disaster like we've seen in Lismore. So you know, it's about a balancing act, but also about information flows. It's not their responsibility. It's my responsibility to be on top of the latest information from Lismore.

"I know that Mal (Lanyon) and the team would have been working hard to get that community up on their feet, but look, if I had my time again, we wouldn't have a tropical cyclone where we've got so many squatters who are in harm's way. It's obviously ridiculous."

As we know from previous meetings and unsuccessful execution of plans to remove the illegal squatters, there will be more than likely a confrontation between the NSW Government and the illegal squatters on Pine Street.