Fifty people rallied outside the office of NSW Labor MP and Minister for Recovery Janelle Saffin on April 15, protesting the planned demolition of over 160 flood-affected houses.
Campaigners say many of the homes are still liveable, particularly those constructed from 鈥渂ig scrub鈥 highly water-resistant timber, and should be relocated.
A similar number rallied outside the site of the first demolitions on April 8.
鈥淭he immediate demand is for a pause in demolition,鈥 activist Miriam Torzillo told 91自拍论坛. 鈥淲e want clear evidence for decision-making processes, particularly for any demolitions, and clarity around all aspects of the Resilient Homes program.鈥
Resilient Homes, NSW Labor鈥檚 program, is meant to either buyback or help improve the safety of houses affected by the devastating 2022 floods. It is also meant to provide safer housing options for those living on the area鈥檚 floodplain.
Activists point out that the buyback funds being offered are not enough to buy another house in a town increasingly unaffordable for most people to live in, and that only a tiny number of promised house relocations have happened. Nothing has been done for renters, they added.
Torzillo is active in and the Lismore People鈥檚 Assembly, which helped organise the actions under the general demand for a 鈥渏ust recovery鈥.
NSW Greens Legislative Council member Sue Higginson, another speaker, is a long-time resident of North Lismore, one of the worst affected areas in the 2022 floods. She has been calling out Premier Chris Minns鈥 lack of action in providing housing and planning for a region set to face further climate disasters.
NSW Labor set a course for the rapid demolition of flood-affected homes following minor flooding associated with Cyclone Alfred in early March. Minns has scapegoated people聽who had occupied seven vacant North Lismore homes, claiming emergency workers were at risk.
Occupiers and housing activists pointed out that these homes had been well-maintained and that there was no evidence of unsafe behaviour during recent extreme weather.
Torzillo told GL that the occupiers, with the support of the houses鈥 owners and local elders of the Widjabul Wai-bal people, had reached an understanding with local police and the NSW Reconstruction Authority for 鈥渙ccupation until relocation鈥, with reasonable notice for the occupiers to vacate. Minns鈥 politically motivated intervention then led to the immediate eviction order.
The vehemence of Minns鈥 scapegoating was echoed in attacks on the occupiers and housing activists by local National Party federal MP Kevin Hogan and right-wing councillors. One posted a video on social media he took of the April 15 rally showing himself standing over and mocking a young woman, and added his own sexually harassing commentary.
Torzillo argued that Hogan is pushing a 鈥済et tough campaign鈥 in the lead-up to the May 3 federal election, and that a number of local councillors with considerable property and business interests feel threatened by the growing call for housing justice. She said some have career ambitions in the National and Labor parties.
[ for May 10, 10.30am, at the Lismore Transit Centre.]
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