The reality of receiving only $100 million in yesterday's State Budget for the NRRC's Resilient Homes Program can be exemplified through 24-year-old Zac Shaw's story.

Zac bought his house on Casino Street at 19 years old, saving hard on apprentice wages and slowly renovating the property himself.

He was living there with his brother and a mate at the time of the Feb 2022 flood. When flood waters hit the house and continued to rise, Zac and his mate climbed to safety on the roof of the house with their two dogs.

Wet and cold, they waited to be rescued for 7 hours - from 6am until someone could pick them up at 1pm. Fast-moving flood waters and low-hanging powerlines contributed to extraction difficulties, along with the fact that Zac waved rescuers on to collect more vulnerable people first.

When they returned to the house to deal with the aftermath, not only was the house and their goods water damaged, but, being located so close to the river, thick silt had coated everything. Clothes that were salvaged were stained and still seeping mud after three washes.

Like many others, Zac could not afford flood cover on his insurance policy and got nothing from his insurance company. The idea of dealing with the huge renovation and the costs involved were extremely daunting, and Zac didn’t go near his house for some time.

When Zac got married in December 2022 (a simple registry marriage followed later by a BBQ with family and friends), it prompted him to begin to try to resurrect his home. Thanks to donations from friends and family and the $20k back home grant, Zac slowly began to bring it back to a liveable state.

He and his wife moved back in July with a kitchen installed and a basic bathroom under the house, but several rooms are still without lining, and there is much more work to do (and a lack of funds remaining to finish in any hurry).

Just last week, Zac got the dreaded email from NRRC - “Based on analysis… NRRC has assessed that your property falls outside of the mapped highest priority areas, and therefore, you will not receive a buyback, house raise or retrofit offer at this stage.”

The double blow comes with the fact that Zac has been unable to obtain flood insurance because every insurance company he has rang has told him that they can’t offer him any cover because he is located in a high-risk area.

“It’s so stupid. All the insurance places are like, ‘No - you’re in the worst area.’ And then you get an email (from NRRC) saying that you don’t fall into the worst area. What do you do??”

What do people do? Unable to access any more government funding and unable to secure flood insurance, they’re stuck with homes that are half-renovated at best, with the threat of future flooding looming over them. Undeniably, more funding is critical to help many people who, like Zac, have nowhere to go from here.

How can someone who is rescued off the roof of his home not be eligible for any NRRC Resilient Homes Program (RHP) stream?

The answer has to be money.

That's what happens when a community is told that 6,000 Northern Rivers residents are eligible for the RHP scheme, including 2,000 residents eligible for voluntary house buybacks and ends up with funding for 2,000 Northern Rivers residents for all RHP streams.

People miss out on any help after the worst natural disaster in Australia's history in terms of insurance losses, which totalled $5.7 billion.