NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has admitted the state government response during natural disasters has not improved since Australia's devastating bushfires during the 2019-20 summer.
Mr Perrottet owned up to the shortcomings of his government as thousands of residents across NSW have been forced to evacuate after flooding continues to ravage the state.
"I take responsibility as the premier of the state ... my role is to ensure people in these circumstances are kept safe," he said in an interview with ABC Radio National.
His comments come after former NSW MP Andrew Constance, whose former electorate of Bega was heavily affected by the Black Summer bushfires, criticised the government's lack of action in disaster mitigation.
"It’s really important that there’d be someone independent of government to manage the community rebuild, and at the same time ensuring that they can cut across all public sector agencies to make sure everyone is supported," Mr Constance told Nine media.
Mr Constance is now running for Federal Parliament and left state politics at the end of 2021.
The premier was in the northern regions of NSW over the past week, monitoring the disaster on the ground.
He conceded that there was not enough assistance provided by the government to assist residents in fleeing their homes as waters began to submerge their properties.
"From what I saw over the course of the week, had [local residents] not gotten into boats, then I believe the death toll would have been much higher," he said.
Floods have claimed six lives in NSW, including four in Lismore in the state's north.
The premier said some 900 Australian Defence Force (ADF) troops were headed to northern NSW on Tuesday to aid in the clean-up efforts.
There are 700 troops currently on the ground who are helping to clear roads and fix telecommunication networks, using helicopters to drop critical supplies to cut-off communities.
Mr Perrottet has urged the federal government to provide up to 5,000 troops to aid the gruelling recovery process - and said he is confident the support is on its way.
Residents of northern New South Wales are still cleaning up following unprecedented storms and the worst flooding in a decade. Credit: Dan Peled/Getty Images
'Freak catastrophe'
According to Weatherzone, Sydney is experiencing its wettest start of the year on record since 1858, clocking up more than 820mm of rain by March 2022.
The heavy rain overnight has allowed the wet week to overtake the 728mm of rain the city experienced in 1956.
Mr Perrottet called the floods that he said has deemed almost 3,000 homes uninhabitable as an "unpredicted freak catastrophe".
"We need to make sure that, as we rebuild, we do so in such a way that ensures that we protect people's lives and we have communities built in a way where we mitigate flood risk or fire risk," he said.
But his comments have been criticised by the Climate Council, saying that the signs of more natural disasters have been on the government's radar for years.
"This was not just a 'freak catastrophe'," the Climate Council wrote on Twitter.
"Scientists, emergency services workers, councils, doctors, even sportspeople have been warning about escalating disasters for years and years.
"Just call it what it is: climate change."
Mr Perrottet said the government's main priority is to respond to the immediate crisis ahead of NSW residents.
He said the government will make an "honest assessment" and review what next steps must be taken to improve the state's current disaster response.
