NSW Labor ministers

Mia

Armitage

NSW Labor ministers responsible for the newly formed NSW Reconstruction Authority failed to clarify when a second tranche of Northern Rivers recovery funds will be delivered, and how much, when visiting the region last week.

Tuesday’s media conference (11 July) by Emergency Services Minister, Jihad Dib, and Planning Minister, Paul Scully, was resumed in Lismore MP Janelle Saffin’s office, after it was interrupted by rowdy protesters outside the Memorial Baths.

Protesters had followed the pack to Ms Saffin’s office, and continued to yell and play sirens outside, at one point banging on the building repeatedly. Three police vehicles and around six officers were on standby outside the building after the conference.

Mia Armitage

With the Independent Planning Commission’s (IPC) report on Byron’s holiday letting still sitting on the desk of NSW planning minister Paul Scully (Labor), The Echo asked when residents could expect a decision.

In early May, the IPC’s report was released, which recommended a Shire-wide 60-day annual cap on unhosted holiday letting.

Mr Scully was in Lismore on July 11 as part of a ministerial visit around the flood funding debacle.

‘A couple of weeks ago, we received some initial advice from

How did the Chinny Charge begin? ▶ p4

Byron Shire about what might be able to be done, we’re looking at that at the moment,’ Mr Scully said.

The minister said the recommendation from the IPC for a Shire-wide 60-day annual cap on unhosted holiday letting could ‘run into some issues with respect of having to do large rezoning of areas that already exists.’

Mr Scully said his department also had to contemplate ‘existing use remits on properties.’

The IPC, in hearings earlier this year, quizzed Byron Mayor Michael Lyon on why Council wasn’t prosecuting property owners breaching development consent conditions related to affordable housing in second dwellings being replaced with holiday letting. Council has since announced it is investigating breaches and pursuing legal action where necessary.

Mr Scully said, ‘We’re working through some of those technical issues at the moment, the bottom line is though, in all of these areas, whether it be as a result, or contributed to by short-term rental, by flood, or by anything else, we have some acute housing pressures in the Northern Rivers that we have to deal with.’

Labor NSW Premier, Chris Minns, promised a ministerial visit earlier this month, after thousands of disaster survivors received official letters advising their applications for recovery funding had failed. Mr Minns also promised to visit the region himself at a later date.

The former coalition state government announced round one of funds under a Resilient Homes and Lands Program.

Labor Member for Lismore, Janelle Saffin, has maintained that the $800 million package was merely a ‘down payment’ for a larger recovery funding pool to be delivered via at least one more tranche. Saffin says that when in opposition, NSW Labor agreed in principle for a second tranche of funding.

But instead, her government colleagues have accused their predecessors of misleading the public over available funds, saying no money was allocated.

The flood-affected Northern Rivers community is still reeling from the shock of learning recently that only 1,100 homes are expected to be eligible for buybacks, and fewer than 400 have been approved for retro-fitting.

Greens Member for Ballina, Tamara Smith, says the government needs to ‘cut loose’ people’s hopes and expectations by revealing there isn’t enough funding for the 6,000 homes originally quoted in the program announcement.

Ms Smith says nobody in the Ballina electorate (Ballina and Byron Shires) should expect to receive any more funding, aside from the few who have already. She told The Echo that fewer than 20 buybacks had been completed in the Ballina electorate.

She says the process of assessments and allocations has been a ‘bureaucratic bungle’ and there isn’t enough money in state coffers for the scheme to continue in its promised form. The Greens member says she is pushing the federal government to contribute more and has suggested the state government start means-testing grant applicants.

Speaking in Ms Saffin’s office, neither Mr Dib nor Mr Scully would commit to anything on the matter of future funds other than more advice.