City of Albany council to donate $5000 towards Lismore council’s flood recovery

The City of Albany will donate $5000 to the Lismore City Council to help the local government rebuild in the wake of the region’s recent flooding disaster.

The Albany council on Tuesday voted to make a donation to the Lismore City Council Flood Fund to directly assist the local government in its flood recovery efforts which has left residents homeless, businesses destroyed and roads in ruin.

Councillors voted 7 to 5 in favour of the donation with Crs Greg Stocks, Thomas Brough, Malcolm Traill, Delma Baesjou and Matt Benson-Lidholm voting against the motion.

The councillors who voted against the motion stated they supported making a donation towards disaster relief, but would prefer to do so through the Red Cross Flood Appeal to help a wider scope of flood victims.

Cr Sandie Smith spoke in favour of a donation directly to the local government to help their residents get back on their feet.

“I just like the idea of a local government supporting another local government to provide services to their local community,” she said.

Cr John Shanhun said the gesture was a show of support from a similarly sized local government on the other side of Australia.

“The road for recovery for them is huge and I think us doing this says to them that another council has got their interests and are thinking of them,” he said.