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The Resilient Homes and Resilient Lands Programs were groundbreaking, representing one of the state’s largest disaster recovery packages.
However, the recent Audit Office report highlights significant flaws: poor planning, severe delays, and a glaring lack of a business case or cost-benefit analysis. These are of real concern, but the resulting discussion misses two crucial elements.
Firstly, why wait for utter devastation to find the political will to act? We have known for decades that funding preparedness and mitigation vastly reduces the cost of response and recovery. Yet it took the 2022 floods before substantial mitigation work occurred in the Northern Rivers.
Building massive, complex schemes only after floodwaters recede is a recipe for failure. It forces governments to design under intense pressure, while traumatised residents navigate a confusing bureaucratic labyrinth. We must invest in preparedness long before a crisis hits, designing systems that support people rather than drain them.
Secondly, the audit overlooks the social service community sector’s essential role in helping people access programs like Resilient Homes.
Applying for post-disaster support was incredibly difficult for people because the flood was not an isolated event. Rather, it was the latest blow amidst overlapping life crises. Disasters severely escalate existing vulnerabilities.
They drive increases in financial hardship, domestic violence, mental health issues, and homelessness, creating significant barriers for people trying to access desperately needed help.
Added to this burden was the uncertainty of waiting. Significant delays left people in limbo, unable to progress basic life decisions.
When government systems became overwhelming, the support of the community sector proved crucial. Local workers helped people overcome access barriers, walked patiently at their pace, and advocated on their behalf. They sat with people in their homes, providing holistic support while guiding them through recovery.
Yet the social and community service sector is expected to provide this support while running on the smell of an oily rag.
We must ask how long can these chronically underfunded vital services continue to respond to these increasingly complex challenges? We are already seeing signs of collapse.
Global pressures like the fuel crisis are pushing these essential lifelines to breaking point. Volunteers are withdrawing because they cannot afford fuel to get to volunteering venues, outreach services are reducing, and social service and community centres are considering which days they should close their door so they can afford to keep running.
The learnings from the Resilient Homes Program are urgent and clear. We must invest heavily right now in our most at-risk communities, and the social service community organisations that support them. Waiting for the system to collapse will cost us more time, money, and lives.
It’s time to fund the preparation, not just the aftermath.