Prime Minister Anthony Albanese offered no indication if the scheme would be offered to any other regions of Australia, but said the government needed to stop development in floodplains.
He said all state and territory governments would be briefed on the intention of the government to keep homes “out of harm’s way’’ at this week’s National Cabinet meeting.
“It is much better to get ahead of a problem than to wait for disaster to hit,” Mr Albanese said.
In some Northern Rivers cases, where major flooding would pose a catastrophic risk to life, the government will offer to buy the home and land from owners based on a valuation of the property.
Two towns, Coraki and Woodburn, which have a close affiliation to Rochester — through the flood relief efforts of the Rotary Club — are included in the scheme.
The Prime Minister announced on Friday morning that $520 million would be made available to buy back land affected by the Richmond River floods — with the NSW Government kicking in another $280 million for the 2000 flood-affected residents.
The $800 million package will be available for people who choose to demolish, raise or retrofit their homes — with the aim of making them more flood resilient.
But the ultimate aim is to have the flood-ravaged community, which was again under threat only two weeks ago, re-located to a non-flood plain location.
The NSW Government will spend $100 million on purchasing flood-proof land for those who take up the buy back offer.
Those who choose to demolish the home can access up to $100,000 through the scheme, while $50,000 is the maximum retrofit allocation to residents in the flood-ravaged community.
