The emergency management minister has admitted a buyback scheme for houses damaged in last year’s Lismore floods should have been moving faster.
As the federal government announced new multi-million dollar disaster recovery funding one year on from the devastating deluge, Senator Murray Watt said he wanted to see more houses being taken up in the buyback scheme.
The scheme was announced late last year, with the program expected to offer as many as 2000 buybacks, but few offers have been made since.
The first formal offer was made in mid-February this year.
Senator Watt said subsequent floods in New South Wales (NSW) had led to delays in the implementation of the buyback program.
“I definitely would have liked to have seen the buyback program move a bit more quickly,” he told ABC Radio on Monday.
“It obviously would have been great to have that program start sooner in NSW than it did, but I have to say that once the program has started, it has started moving quickly.”
Similar schemes have been enacted in Queensland following flooding in the state, which Senator Watt said had been progressing faster.
One year on from the floods, the government unveiled a $300 million package to repair damaged infrastructure so it would not get destroyed in subsequent disasters.
Senator Watt said communities would be better served with mitigation measures for future floods.
“Traditionally, what’s happened with federal and state funding after disasters is that things like roads and bridges get repaired to the same standard they were before a flood occurred,” he said.
“What we’re seeking to do through this new ... funding is actually improve the standard of roads and bridges and other things so that they can withstand future flooding as well.”
More than 50 projects across 26 local council areas will receive funding as part of recovery efforts.
