2022 NSW Flood Inquiry

The NSW Government established an independent flood inquiry to examine and report on the causes of, preparedness for, response to and recovery from the 2022 catastrophic flood event.

Professor Mary O’Kane AC and Michael Fuller APM were engaged to lead the Inquiry.

The Inquiry was tasked with examining and reporting on:

• causes of and factors contributing to the frequency, intensity, timing and location of floods
• preparation and planning by agencies and the community for floods in NSW
• responses to floods, particularly measures to protect life, property and the environment
• the transition from incident response to recovery
• recovery, including housing, clean-up, financial support, community engagement and longer-term community rebuilding.

The Inquiry was asked to consider and, if warranted, make recommendations on matters, including:

• the safety of emergency services and community first responders
• current and future land use planning and management and building standards in flood prone locations across NSW
• appropriate action to adapt to future flood risks to communities and their surrounds
• coordination and collaboration between all levels of government.

Access the full report (PDF 12.95MB) and summary report. (PDF 2.36MB)

Recommendations

The Inquiry makes 28 recommendations.

The Government response supports all 28 recommendations, either in full or in principle:

• Supports 6 recommendations
• Supports in Principle 22 recommendations

Access the NSW Government Response (PDF 298.18KB).

Inquiry submissions

The Inquiry welcomed submissions from all flood-affected residents, emergency and support personnel, organisations and the general public. Their stories and photographs were valuable to informing the Inquiry's work.

The Inquiry held 144 meetings with community and stakeholders and received 1,494 submissions in total.

The Inquiry wishes to advise that the following submissions may include material that may be distressing, including accounts of individual and community experience, images of deceased and/or injured wildlife and destroyed property.  Such information may be triggering to individuals who have experiences recent trauma as a result of the 2022 floods.

While all submissions to the Inquiry have been considered, the Inquiry has determined not to publish submissions that have not provided express consent to publish. Submissions that did not advise whether they were to be made public or not have been published as anonymous. Personal information (for example, phone numbers and addresses) has been redacted by the Inquiry.  Names of submitters have been redacted where the submitter has indicated they consent to the Inquiry publishing their submission on an anonymous basis.

• Submissions 1 to 200
• Submissions 201 to 401
• Submissions 402 to 614
• Submissions 615 to 814
• Submissions 815 to 1014
• Submissions 1015 to 1214
• Submissions 1215 to 1250

Terms of reference

Access the terms of reference (PDF 54.44KB) for the 2022 NSW Floods Inquiry.