The NSW premier has defended his government's approach to helping rebuild the Northern Rivers after catastrophic flooding in 2022.
Despite conceding that half of the money allocated to a program for helping residents is yet to be spent, Chris Minns said his government was committed to lifting up the community in northern NSW.
Announced a year ago, the Resilient Homes program offers home buybacks, raising or retrofits through the NSW Reconstruction Authority.
But many residents say the program has left them confused, and believe it was based on outdated data and flood maps.
They claim it lacked consistent, clear and transparent criteria and more than 18 months since the floods, has failed to support a large number of affected people.
During a visit to Lismore with a handful of his ministry on Tuesday, Mr Minns said half of the $700 million funding announced in October as the first tranche of Resilient Homes is yet to be spent and would be rolled over.
He said his government had committed $100 million to the second tranche.
"There are obviously construction capacity issues on the Northern Rivers as well," he said.
"We're seeing that with the private housing market along with social housing along with reconstruction.
"Progressively we'll commit more funds to these proposals, we know this community needs us but we've made a lot of progress in a short period of time."
Greens MP and Lismore local Sue Higginson said many residents are being left behind.
Ms Higginson said that despite commitments before the state election that Labor would fix the flood crisis on the Northern Rivers, little has changed in how government authorities have been communicating with residents.
"Communities have been split down the middle with houses on some streets receiving support to renovate their homes while impacted houses across the road have been denied any form of support despite flooding just as badly as their neighbours," she said.
"Chris Minns must take responsibility for the ongoing lack of communication between authorities and communities because many communities across the Northern Rivers are still in the dark about when, if ever, they will be supported in recovering and rebuilding their lives."
Mr Minns said the government was supporting not-for-profit Resilient Lismore's Two Rooms Project with $5 million.
Resilient Lismore launched the program in July last year and now co-ordinates an army of skilled tradespeople, labourers and volunteers to help rebuild homes.
Priority is given to vulnerable people and those who cannot afford to pay for repair work.
Last week the NSW government announced a new $150 million Community Restoration Flood Fund in its 2023/24 budget to support disaster-impacted communities in the Northern Rivers and Central West.
Mr Minns conceded that communication about funding and eligibility had not been clear but said there were no simple fixes.
He called on the federal government to stump up more funding for the recovery.
Lismore MP and parliamentary secretary for disaster recovery, Janelle Saffin, said the Reconstruction Authority was working on ways to make it easier for people to relocate homes to higher ground.
"Initiatives like the Resilient Homes investment and the additional injection from the Community Restoration Flood Fund are a welcome start on the wide range of recovery and reconstruction work that still needs to be done across the Northern Rivers," she said.
"Like me, I know everyone who experienced the 2022 floods and is still dealing with the after-effects day in and day out understands we have a long road ahead of us and additional support will be required."
