Review of the operations of the NSW Reconstruction Authority

Review of the operations of the NSW Reconstruction Authority

Operations and coordination of the NSW Reconstruction Authority

10

- support for rural landholders, primary producers and aquaculture

producers, including the Rural Landholders Grant60 and Special Disaster

Relief Grant (Primary Producer Grant)61

- support for small businesses and non-profit organisations through the

Small Business and Non-Profit Recovery Grant.62

2.11 The NSW Government announced concessional loans for eligible small business

and primary producers, non-profit organisations, and sporting and recreational

clubs.

63 These concessional loans were jointly funded by the Australian

Government and NSW Government under the Disaster Recovery Funding

Arrangements (DRFA).

64

2.12 The NSW Government also worked with the National Emergency Management

Agency (NEMA) and the Australian Government to establish a $19 million

Community Recovery Support Fund (CRSF). This funding allowed for allocations of

up to $1 million for local councils heavily impacted by the May 2025 East Coast

severe weather event to assist with immediate clean up and restoration works.

65

Strategic coordination and operational challenges

Recommendation 1

That the NSW Government, led by the NSW Reconstruction Authority,

commence work to standardise data collection and data sharing protocols

relating to disaster impacts and recovery, in order to improve interagency

coordination and decision-making for future disasters.

2.13 The Committee heard that the Authority's recovery response has improved over

time, which has allowed it to become 'far more organised and proactive when

disasters strike'.

66 For example, Mr Dylan Reeves from Kempsey Shire Council

reflected:

Most certainly in my time at Kempsey ... we've had flooding in 2021, significant

flooding in 2022 and now in 2025. I think the 2025 flood event, by quite a reasonable

margin, was the most well-prepared and the fastest recovery effort that I've seen.

67

2.14 The Committee is pleased to hear that some improvements in the Authority's

response have been noted in the community. In the context of the May 2025 East

60 Rural Assistance Authority, Rural Landholder Grant, accessed 15 April 2026.

61 Rural Assistance Authority, Special Disaster Relief Grant, accessed 15 April 2026.

62 Service NSW, Apply for the Recovery Grant for Small Businesses and Non-Profit Organisations, last updated 13

March 2026, accessed 15 April 2026.

63 NSW Reconstruction Authority, NSW East Coast Severe Weather grants, payments and financial support, accessed

12 April 2026.

64 NSW Reconstruction Authority, NSW East Coast Severe Weather grants, payments and financial support, accessed

12 April 2026.

65 NSW Reconstruction Authority, Answers to questions on notice, 30 March 2026, pp 3-4; Prime Minister of

Australia, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Emergency Management, Supporting recovery efforts in flood

affected New South Wales, media release, 26 May 2025, accessed 2 April 2026.

66 Submission 43, Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (IPWEA) NSW & ACT, p 2.

67 Dylan Reeves, A/Director Operations and Planning, Kempsey Shire Council, Transcript of evidence, 17 February

2026, p 5.