Disaster agency defends not listing Lismore as flooding priority area for funding

The national disaster recovery and resilience agency has defended its decision to omit Lismore from its priority areas for flood mitigation funding just three months ago, as the city battles record floods.

Lismore, one of the most flood-prone areas in Australia, was not classed as a priority area.

Hundreds of residents were rescued on Monday as flood waters peaked at 14.4 metres, two metres higher than the previous record.

Previously, the worst flooding event in the region occurred in February 1954 when flood waters rose to 12.27 metres. Another flood in March 1974 saw the river rise to 12.15 metres.

Hogan said on Tuesday he had been in contact with the NRRA and the issue had been fixed.

His office did not respond to requests for further clarification about whether this meant Lismore would be classed as a flood priority area for future funding rounds.

The Preparing Australia Program was announced in May 2021, with $600m to be allocated for reducing disaster risk over six years to 2026-27, in response to recommendations of the royal commission into national natural disaster arrangements.

Applications for round one of the PACP only closed in January, and no grants have yet been announced, so it is unclear if Lismore was awarded funding under the program.

The NRRA said priority areas were decided based on their exposure and vulnerability to each disaster type, the infrastructure and resources of each community, and the impacts of climate change. The Australian Climate Service, the NRRA itself, and state and territory governments also had input.

In December, Stone stressed that applications outside priority LGAs could still be successful in seeking funding.

The ERF has only $50m of its funding so far, which had been directed to flood mitigation. Another $50m for floods is in the process of being allocated, while a third round of $50m was allocated to the Coastal and Estuarine Risk Mitigation Program two weeks ago.