NSW 2022 Flood Inquiry report recommends flood zone buy backs, changes to disaster response

An independent report into NSW's devastating floods has found people in the "highest-risk" areas near Lismore should be relocated "urgently".

However, it is still not clear who will be eligible to do that under the state government's plan.

The findings from the NSW flood inquiry, prepared by former police commissioner Mick Fuller and Independent Planning Commission chair Mary O'Kane, have been made public today.

The report made 28 recommendations, including:

• Merging the NSW Rural Fire Service and State Emergency Service back-office
• Remodelling Resilience NSW to become a more targeted agency, named Recovery NSW
• Appointment of a full time State Emergency Management Operations Coordinator (SEOCON) as a fifth deputy commissioner of police
• Establishing a permanent State Emergency Operations Centre
• Consolidating emergency warnings and messages into a single 'NSW disaster app'

Premier Dominic Perrottet said all 28 recommendations would be adopted either immediately or in time.

A new reconstruction authority will open expressions of interest for a buy back and land swap scheme by the end of August.

"I know that for many people that will provide uncertainty today in terms of eligibility, but that is something that we need to work through," Mr Perrottet said.

The report also recommended the government "prioritise and incentivise new development in safe areas".

Mr Perrottet said the state "cannot keep developing in areas that are at high risk of floods".

"We've been doing that for the last 100 years. It has to stop, and today it does."

Inquiry co-chair Mary O'Kane said the most important message from the report was that communities needed to be better prepared for and educated on disasters, recommending children be taught on the topic in schools.

Professor O'Kane said the way flood-plains are used as assets need to be re-imagined.

"Assets that can be used for renewable energy, parks, biodiversity offsets," she said.

"There are important uses for the flood plains and they should come back into public ownership, to be leased into 99-year leases."

The report outlined how heavy rainfall events would become "more intense", and Professor O'Kane said the chapter on weather was so grim it would likely cause people to "sleep less".

The report states that agencies currently have "minimal ability to predict a flood", and that there needed to be more investment into Australia's research capabilities for weather and climate modelling.

Recommendations to make disaster preparedness and response a more permanent feature have been adopted, including the establishment of a task force focused on training key cabinet ministers and others so that the government is ready to respond to any disaster.

The report took aim at Resilience NSW, saying the organisation that was formed in the wake of the 2019/2020 bushfires "did not perform as intended".

"The main criticisms were directed at Resilience NSW's slowness and unresponsiveness in respect of evacuation and recovery centres, clean up, restoring essential services and issuing of grant funding to affected communities and businesses, all of which exacerbated the stresses resulting from the disaster," the report found.

Mr Perrottet said it would be "reshaped into a leaner more nimble agency that will focus on the first 100 days, post event".

A new program will be set up to give local people training and resources to become first responders during a disaster, in recognition of the many people in Lismore who ignored official advice and took to floodwaters on boats and jet skis to rescue their neighbours.

"There are many people who don't have the time to commit to been a volunteer, but there are many people who would want to have that training and we'll be working through programs and support," Mr Perrottet said.