David Witherdin has left the building. Flood corporation boss was never really there for the community

Susanna Freymark

David Witherdin has quietly slipped away and left his position as chief executive of the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation.

Mr Witherdin’s last day was Friday, August 18.

The flood corporation gave no reason for his departure.

The low-key departure parallelled his performance in the job. Getting answers about the flood recovery was difficult to impossible.

Kieron Hendicott will act as chief executive until a more permanent decision is made.

Mr Hendicott was director of strategy for NRRC and was at many of the community meetings earlier this year, including the one at Woodburn.

The NRRC has been merged into the NSW Reconstruction Authority.

IndyNR.com asked the Authority about the current buyback numbers across the Northern Rivers.

As of August 23, the numbers were:

● 586 home valuations done

● 477 buyback offers made

● 252 home buyback offers accepted

● 77 settlements completed.

“These numbers are expected to continually rise over coming weeks,” an Authority representative said.

The buybacks from flood impacted Queensland are:

● Almost 500 offers accepted for buybacks following the 2021-22 flooding event

● 300 voluntary home buybacks settled under the Resilient Homes Fund

● More than 100 homes have been demolished or removed

Frustrating figures as flood corporation still falls short of residents’ hopes