After victims of the Northern Rivers floods complained of delays and a lack of communication plaguing the government's $700 million recovery program, the NSW premier will visit the area for a community listening tour.
The city of Lismore and surrounds was hit by devastating floods just over one year ago that destroyed 5000 homes, killed five people and upended the community.
In October the state and federal governments committed $700m to rebuilding the Northern Rivers community, with $520m set aside for buying back homes from those most at risk of future floods.
However, locals last month raised concerns over the government agency handling the buybacks, the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation, saying it had failed to complete a single buyback.
The premier and his team hope by having boots on the ground, they will be able to speak with flood victims and get a sense of the ongoing fallout from the disaster.
So far, 68 offers for buybacks have been made, however no owner has completed a settlement. Valuations have been carried out on 252 properties, with 510 home owners deemed eligible for a buyback.
The program, which offers buybacks as well as flood proofing through house raising and retrofitting packages, has received close to 6000 registrations of interest.
The former NSW government, which in charge of facilitating the scheme, announced the first offer had been made to a home owner last month.
At the time, close consultations were taking place with owners in flood-prone areas, and the government said it would make offers to the 250 living in the areas most at risk by the end of this month.
Before the NSW state election, then-premier Dominic Perrottet defended the scheme's timeline, saying offers could not be made overnight.
"The long-term plan is to get people into homes that are not affected by flooding in a way that works in with the local community," he said.
"It's not for the government to come in and dictate to locals in relation to what they should do or where they should live."
