‘Buck stops with Shane’: Resilience NSW could be scrapped

ABOVE: Premier Dominic Perottet at the Woodburn SES after the floods with State MP Chris Gulaptis to the left of the premier. Photo: Susanna Freymark

Susanna Freymark

Radio commentator Ray Hadley announced on his 2GB morning show that Resilience NSW head Shane Fitzsimmons is “out of a job” and Resilience NSW (RESNSW) is going to be dismantled.

State MP Chris Gulaptis from the seat of Clarence said he was not impressed with the efforts of Resilience to assist the flood victims in the Northern Rivers after the February/March floods and the NSW Government should rethink on how best it can respond to natural disasters.

“The reality is that Shane Fitzsimmons was the head of Resilience and the buck stops with him,” Mr Gulaptis said.

“The response should be focused on people and not use bureaucracy as an excuse and unfortunately that was not what we saw on the ground.”

 A Resilience NSW spokesperson said the State Government has received the Report of the NSW independent Flood Inquiry led by Professor Mary O’Kane and Michael Fuller.

The report is 700 pages long and provides detailed discussion of the causes of, preparedness for, response to, and recovery from the February-March 2022 catastrophic flood event.

“The report and its recommendations will be carefully considered by the NSW Cabinet. The Department of Premier and Cabinet is currently coordinating a whole of Government response,” the spokesperson said.

“The inquiry process has been ongoing for the past four months, and it is appropriate that the Government properly consider the detail of the report prior to public release.”

RESNSW said media reporting of the Government’s position on the report and its recommendations was premature.

“We remain focused on the important work of supporting communities in recovery,” RESNSW said.

Premier Dominic Perottet has not made any announcements about RESNSW.

“RESNSW will be shown the door,” Hadley said.

NBN News reporter Adam Walters said the RESNSW had a “shocking underperformance” as a disaster response agency which was revealed in the select NSW parliamentary upper house committee flood inquiry.

RESNSW had $1 billion in funding and there has been criticism about how this money has been used, Mr Walters said.

We have contacted the Premier’s office, Minister Steph Cooke and State MP Janelle Saffin for comment.

A lot rides on the man who will lead the flood rebuild