The NSW Reconstruction Authority (RA) has outlined a decisive year of delivery in the Northern Rivers—accelerating home buybacks and retrofits, critical infrastructure repairs and long-term flood mitigation planning to keep communities safer.

In the four years since the 2022 floods, the NSW Government alone has committed more than $1.3billion in regional recovery, including small business recovery grants and support packages, demolition programs, the Resilient Homes Program, and the Resilient Lands Program -- backing families, local economies and housing recovery across the region.

Under the Essential Public Asset Restoration (EPAR) – Build Back Better program, more than $1.5 billion has been committed to Northern Rivers councils, with $537 million delivered to date and more than 2,500 infrastructure projects underway across local and state networks. This is restoring roads, bridges, community facilities, repairing landslips and essential services at scale.

To date, the RA has bought back more than 779 homes, with an additional 119 approved offers working through to settlement, relocating families from the highest risk flood areas in the Northern Rivers. These homes are set to be removed from the floodplain by the end of the year, ensuring communities can plan for their renewal of these vacated areas, under the largest program of its kind in Australia.

The RA has also completed 848 Resilient Measures home assessments across the Northern Rivers. Out of this, 253 grants have been approved, and 111 homeowners are in the process of scoping and seeking quotes for works.

The first sales of safer land, enabling relocation of flood buyback homes and new housing, will begin in coming months at Mount Pleasant in Goonellabah. Further sales are expected to begin in East Lismore and North Lismore by the middle of the year.

Through the Northern Rivers Recovery and Resilience Program (NRRRP), the RA is advancing the region’s flood mitigation blueprint—36 projects in total including major flood pump station upgrades, town drainage, raising bridges and roads, and widening flood channels across the region. Twenty-two projects have been completed and 15 are in the delivery phase for 2026–2027.

Looking ahead, the RA is leading the region’s first multi hazard Disaster Adaptation Plan. Risk mapping and community engagement are underway, and a 40-member Community Reference Group is guiding development; regional risk findings and adaptation options will be shared in 2026, and informed by the upcoming CSIRO final report into flood mitigation for the Richmond River catchment.

The Northern Rivers is setting a national benchmark in recovery and resilience—demonstrating how communities can rise, rebuild and adapt to a changing climate through practical investments, local partnerships and long-term planning.

The NSW Reconstruction Authority remains focused on delivery for the community in 2026 and beyond.