A federal parliamentary inquiry which began today has heard that over 120 people are still seeking help from Legal Aid NSW following the devastating floods of 2022.
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Senior disaster recovery solicitor for NSW Legal Aid, Ma'ata Solofoni, says many of her clients are reaching her for the first time.
"People are only able to seek out assistance now because they're in the brain space to try to recover and address those issues," she said.
"Many of these clients are in limbo because they haven't been able to properly start that recovery... We have clients who are in pod villages, there's a question of how long those pod villages will remain available."
Displaced residents of Eugowra have lived in temporary 'pod' homes for the last year, after historic flooding damaged more than 95 percent of structures across the town.
More than 12 months on, Independent Member for Calare, Andrew Gee says the anger in communities is "white hot."
"Communities like Eugowra, Molong, Manildra, Canowindra, Cudal and Wellington were devastated by the storm and flood event of November 2022," he said.
"The rebuilding and recovery process has been made much harder by the cold-hearted and in some cases shocking response of insurers to policyholders."
In a submission to the inquiry, Andrew Hall, CEO of the Insurance Council of Australia, said the strength of insurers meant they were adequately capitalised to meet the costs associated with the flood recovery.
"The ICA coordinated 66 community consultations across the four events, with 2,090 registered attendees from affected communities. The most recent consultations were held on November 7-9 in Parkes, Molong, and Eugowra for policyholders impacted by the Central West floods late last year," he said.
Mr Gee, who is a supplementary member for the committee said he expects the inquiry to visit the Central West in the near future to hear directly from residents. The inquiry continues.
