Fourteen months on from the devastating floods of May 2025, MidCoast Council is awaiting approval on $156 million worth of repair works.
Councillor Jeremy Miller described the delay, and the prolonged impact on the region’s road network, as “unforgivable”.
“If the NSW Reconstruction Authority is listening at the moment online, stop listening and do some work,” he told the council’s August 19 meeting.
The background: The May 2025 flood resulted in over 28,000 defects to the big-ticket road network, which stretches from the north end of Port Stephens to just south of Camden Haven and out west past the Barrington Tops.
The estimated cost of total repairs is $333 million.
Since October 2025, the Reconstruction Authority has handed over approximately $69.4 million to council, including $28.8 million in advance funding for the repair of essential public assets.
However, council claims 26 road and bridge projects are still awaiting approval, with a value of $156 million.
A number of these have been in the queue for more than 230 days.
Time for action: Council’s infrastructure and engineering director, Rob Scott, said “difficult discussions” had taken place with the Authority over the timeframes.
“It is frustrating because whilst we've been able to progress some of the big ticket items that require a long lead time and design, there's a lot of work on our sealed and unsealed road network that requires no design, that's been scoped, and has been tended.
“It's virtually ready to construct, ready to send graders and equipment in to do that work, and we haven't been able to do that.”
Perfect storm: The Reconstruction Authority was formed in 2022 after a flood inquiry. NSW has experienced 60 declared disasters since 2019.
Scott said the Authority had inherited a “perfect storm” since its establishment, due to a backlog of previous disasters and a new operating system.
He claims the MidCoast region’s flood recovery has suffered as a result of being a “crash test dummy on the new process”.
Engagement ongoing: A spokesperson for the Authority said the government agency meets regularly with council to “progress claims, provide feedback and respond to issues”.
“The $156 million referred to by Council represents a portfolio of projects at different stages of development, assessment and approval,” they said.
“Some are currently under assessment, while others have received preliminary eligibility advice, are being further developed by Council or are progressing through Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangement (DRFA) assurance processes.”
The new : Last year’s disaster was not an isolated incident, with parts of the Mid North Coast experiencing flooding every year from 2020 to 2025.
The Australian Government’s first National Climate Risk Assessment, released in 2024, warned that concurrent extreme weather events will become more common, with less time between them.
According to a report from the Climate Council, MidCoast Council has applied for state and federal disaster recovery funding 16 times since 2019.