STOP Demolition of Historic Homes in the Northern Rivers — Demand Real Flood Recovery NOW

Petition Listing

https://www.change.org/p/stop-demolition-of-historic-homes-in-the-northern-rivers-demand-real-flood-recovery-now

Premier Chris Minns and the New South Wales Government announced on 2 April 2025 that they will demolish 62 homes in the Northern Rivers by mid-2025 — homes bought back by the government after the 2022 floods.

Four historic homes on Baillie Street, North Lismore, have already been demolished by excavators, without transparency, without relocation efforts, and without proper community consultation.

The demolitions began on Monday, April 7th, at Baillie Street — and what followed has shocked and devastated the community.

Brand-new solar hot water systems, 100-year-old stained glass windows, hardwood doors, and rare Big Scrub timber were all smashed apart by excavators, crushed into piles, and loaded into trucks to be dumped. See here.

Residents gathered peacefully to oppose the demolitions, watching helplessly as their history, homes, and memories were destroyed before their eyes.

For a community still recovering from disaster, witnessing these violent demolitions was deeply re-traumatising.

Despite community outcry and direct requests, the NSW Reconstruction Authority continues plans to demolish 58 homes before the middle of 2025 and is continuing to claim that “over 70% of materials are recycled.”

In reality, this figure mostly reflects the crushing of green waste, concrete, and scrap metal — not the careful salvage of valuable or historic materials.

The government’s “recycling” claim is greenwashing — hiding the destruction of our living history behind a statistic.

This reckless waste of resources, heritage, and community wellbeing must stop.

We Demand the NSWRA:

✅ Halt all buyback home demolitions in the Northern Rivers immediately.
✅ Make transparent the decision-making processes for demolitions, relocations, gifting applications, and the true cost of demolitions.
✅ Assess every buyback home for relocation, social housing, or reuse before demolition — and publish the results publicly.
✅ Reveal how many applications were made by landowners to provide land for relocated houses — and explain why no land was acquired for relocations or land swaps.
✅ Stop greenwashing demolition waste. Salvage valuable materials — solar systems, historic timber, stained glass, hardwood — before demolition, and make true recycling rates public.
✅ Offer salvaged building materials to flood-affected residents still living on the floodplain — instead of sending usable resources to landfill.
✅ Make all funding under the Resilient Homes Program fully transparent, and raise eligible houses in South Lismore and across the Northern Rivers.
✅ Find alternative, secure housing for vulnerable people currently living in buyback homes.
✅ Establish a Citizens’ Assembly to guide flood recovery and disaster adaptation — because regular people must have a real say.

Broken Promises on Relocation
Many homeowners accepted government buybacks after being assured that their houses would be offered to others for relocation onto flood-free land — and that demolition would only ever be a very last resort.

Janece Korn, former owner of 29 Junction Street in South Lismore, agreed to sell her home to the NSW Government after being assured it would be made available to another family willing to relocate it.

Janece was later informed by a phone call that her home was now scheduled for urgent demolition — with no opportunity for public consultation or relocation.

She, like many others, sold in good faith, believing her beloved house would continue to shelter others safely.

Instead, the NSW Reconstruction Authority has reversed course — quietly demolishing historic homes without offering genuine relocation opportunities, and attempting to rewrite the public narrative.

This betrayal has deepened the grief, anger, and sense of injustice felt by flood-affected residents who trusted the recovery promises they were given.

What is at Stake
This could be the beginning of another flood recovery disaster — further threatening the possibility of a Just and Resilient Recovery for the Northern Rivers.

More than 10,500 homes were flooded in the Northern Rivers during the 2022 climate-induced disaster. Yet, as of early 2025, only around 800 buybacks have been completed or are in progress under the NSW Government’s Resilient Homes Program. Thousands of flood-affected residents are still waiting for the support they were promised.

Instead of prioritising real recovery, the NSW Reconstruction Authority is spending over $110,000 per house to demolish good homes — homes that could have been relocated, repurposed, or used to house displaced people.

Across NSW, hundreds of homes bought back after the catastrophic 2022 floods face being sent to landfill instead of being relocated, repurposed, or used for emergency housing. This would mean:

💥 Demolishing homes while thousands remain homeless, and without government assistance post-flood.
💥 Destroying livable, relocatable homes while building costs skyrocket.
💥 Sending historic Big Scrub timber homes to landfill while flood survivors live in unsafe housing.
💥 Prioritising demolition over safer, smarter solutions like house raising, retrofitting, and relocation.

This is Urgent Because:
For three years, the Northern Rivers community has endured a top-down flood recovery process that has failed to listen, imposed bureaucratic solutions, and retraumatised flood-affected residents.

Speaking on 2GB radio on 11 March 2025, following the recent cyclone, Premier Chris Minns reignited national attention on the 2022 flood.

Rather than addressing the failings of the recovery effort, Minns punched down on a group of vulnerable community members occupying vacant homes on Pine Street, North Lismore — and announced those houses would be demolished. He went even further, stating that many more homes would also be demolished.

This shift in approach — prioritising demolition over relocation — is devastating and divisive.

It sets a dangerous precedent across NSW: demolishing good homes while flood survivors are still without safe shelter.

As climate disasters grow in frequency and severity, what happens here matters to every community. Sooner or later, it could be your town, your family, your home.

We must hold our government accountable — and ensure community voices are at the centre of disaster recovery and resilience planning.

Real recovery must be community-led — not imposed by distant bureaucracies.

🚨 TAKE ACTION NOW 🚨

✍️ Sign this petition to STOP THE DEMOLITIONS and WORK TOWARD A JUST RECOVERY.

📢 Share this petition and tag @ChrisMinnsMP and @JanelleSaffin — demand real solutions, not destruction.

🏡 Tell the NSW Government: Homes should house people, not fill landfills! 📧 Email our local leaders — Tell them to stop the demolitions:
• Janelle Saffin: lismore@parliament.nsw.gov.au
• Mayor Steve Krieg: mayor@lismore.nsw.gov.au
• NSW Reconstruction Authority: info@reconstruction.nsw.gov.au

💥 Act now before more homes are lost forever!

✅ Support Reclaim Our Recovery directly, via our ActionNetwork.

Signatures: 1,686

Next goal: 2,500