Six years after Black Summer: what the recovery money built, what stalled, and what the 2026 declarations unlocked

Nearly seven years after the 2019-20 fires, the question on this coast is no longer how much was promised but what the money turned into. The answer, read off the government's own lists, is this: the three South Coast shires were allocated about $108 million in Bushfire Local Economic Recovery grants for projects inside their own boundaries, plus a share of about $23 million in 15 programs run across several shires at once (NSW Government project map, read 3 October 2026). Of the 20 projects worth $1 million or more in the three shires, 11 are open or complete, two are built but not open, two are under construction, one was $86,000 short of finishing at last report, two have no published status, one has a withdrawn development application and no published fate, and one was abandoned. The biggest grant of all, Cobargo's main street, has had its funding more than doubled and still had no announced opening when we checked.

That is not an argument that the program failed. Most of what was funded exists, and some of it, the mountain bike networks at Mogo, Narooma and Eden, the Batemans Bay headland trail, the new Mogo Land Council building, is in use and drawing people. It is an argument that the state's own publishing has not kept up with its spending: the map carries grant figures that its own ministerial releases have since superseded, and no agency publishes a delivered-or-not list. We built one below, from primary documents, and say where the record is blank.

Where the money came from

The NSW and Commonwealth governments committed Approximately $4.4 billion to bushfire response, recovery and preparedness in NSW after 2019-20, including $3 billion from the NSW Government, according to the Department of Regional NSW's recovery page. The part that reached towns as grants was the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery program, which the Audit Office of NSW puts at $541.8 million, co-funded half and half with the Commonwealth, and which ran in three parts: a Fast-Tracked stream of 22 projects worth $107.8 million chosen without an open call, Sector Development Grants of $73.2 million to 52 industry projects, and an open round of $283 million to 195 projects (Bushfire recovery grants, Audit Office of NSW, 2 February 2023).

The Audit Office's verdict on the Fast-Tracked stream is blunt: The administration process lacked integrity, given it did not have sufficiently detailed guidelines and the assessment process for projects lacked transparency and consistency. It found that At the request of the Deputy Premier's office, a $1 million threshold was applied, below which projects were not approved for funding. Its table of where that stream's money went shows one Fast-Tracked project in Eurobodalla, worth $5,250,000, and three in Shoalhaven, worth $11,750,000 (Exhibit 7). The Eurobodalla grant matches the Batemans Bay Coastal Headlands Walking Trail line on the project map to the dollar. For Shoalhaven, the three map lines that sum to exactly $11,750,000 are the Southern Community and Recreation Precinct at Bomaderry ($8,000,000), the power and communications resilience project ($2,000,000) and the Ulladulla Harbour berths ($1,750,000); that match is our arithmetic, not a statement in the report.

The open round was different. The Department's own evaluation, by Nous Group, found its design appropriate and its delivery slow: Bega Council, which was the third most bushfire affected LGA, received the most BLER (Stage 2) funding with $34.4 million across 14 projects. Projects were originally required to be complete by 30 June 2023; the deadline was moved to 30 June 2024, and then, in the evaluators' words, In early 2023, these timeframes were extended again to 30 June 2025 on a case-by-case basis for certain projects. Money that had been held back for a third stage was redirected instead, a $45.6 million re-investment of stage 3 funds into stage 1 and 2 projects, to cover cost escalation and delay (Nous Group evaluation for the Department of Regional NSW, 3 May 2023, pages 12, 14 and 19). That redirection is why several projects below now carry a larger figure in a ministerial release than on the map.

Beside the big fund sat a small one. The Bushfire Community Recovery and Resilience Fund paid $250,000 to each of the three councils in its first phase for immediate, small-scale recovery work (BCRRF page and project map). And when the big fund's deadlines ran out, one project on this coast was given more: the NSW Reconstruction Authority's Bushfire Infrastructure Completion Program exists to ensure specific projects within local communities impacted by the 2019-2020 Bushfires can support economic and social recovery, is Not open for application, and lists a single recipient, Cobargo Community Development Corporation Limited, for $2,750,000: This project will complete works on the Village Square Building, the Market Hall and the Post Office Building to revitalise the Cobargo CBD. (NSW Reconstruction Authority program page.) This one is NSW money alone, not co-funded.

What each shire was allocated

The project map behind the Department's recovery page lists 365 lines for the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund across NSW. Reading only the lines tagged to one of the three South Coast shires, and setting aside programs that run across several shires, the single-shire allocations are $49.9 million across 22 projects in the Bega Valley, $28.7 million across 10 in Eurobodalla and $29.2 million across 17 in Shoalhaven. The shared programs, such as Royal Far West's children's recovery program ($3,994,938) and Anglicare's regional recovery program ($3,475,000), are listed at their full value against every shire they touch, so they cannot be added to those figures; counted that way they come to $22.8 million against the Bega Valley, $18.7 million against Eurobodalla and $9.0 million against Shoalhaven, but counted once each they are 15 programs worth $23.2 million, most of them stretching from the Shoalhaven to the Snowy Monaro or further.

Project by project: built, or not

The table covers every single-shire project of $1 million or more on the map, plus the shared line for the Kiah and Wandella halls, 20 in all, with its status read from the most recent primary document we could find on 3 October 2026. Where the only account is a news report, the row says so. Where nothing has been published, the row says that too.

Bushfire Local Economic Recovery projects of $1 million or more in the three South Coast shires, and what the record says about each on 3 October 2026.

Project	Grant on the NSW map	Later official figure	Status	Where that comes from
Revitalise the Cobargo CBD (Village Square, Market Hall, Post Office), Bega Valley	$19,901,375	$9,611,992 at the 2021 announcement; plus $2,750,000 Completion Program	Heavy construction complete by December 2025 and opening expected from late January 2026, per About Regional; no opening announced by the corporation or the government that we could find	NSW RA; CCDC news, last entry June 2025; About Regional, 5 December 2025; ABC, 9 February 2026
Bega Showground Community Centre (evacuation centre), Bega Valley	$9,794,916	more than $15 million	Open. Opened 18 September 2026	Ministerial release, 18 September 2026
Southern Community and Recreation Precinct (Artie Smith Oval), Shoalhaven	$8,000,000	same	Complete, August 2023	Shoalhaven City Council, 26 November 2024
Narooma Arts and Community Centre, Eurobodalla	$7,276,190	$9.92 million	Under construction. Sod turned June 2025 after a Commonwealth-approved delivery extension	Ministerial release, 13 June 2025
Batemans Bay Coastal Headlands Walking Trail and Observation Point, Eurobodalla	$5,250,000	same (project about $6.5 million)	Complete. Council page: Status: Recently completed	Eurobodalla Shire Council, page updated June 2026
Mogo Adventure Trails Hub, stage two, Eurobodalla	$5,000,000	same	Complete. All 125 km ready to ride from 10 May 2025	Eurobodalla Shire Council, 8 May 2025
Cobargo Bushfire Resilience Centre, Bega Valley	$4,896,425	same	Built, not open. The centre's site says Opening in 2026; the ABC reported in February that the building was complete but the open date unknown	Cobargo Resilience Centre; ABC, 9 February 2026
Eden Mountain Bike Hub (Gravity Eden), Bega Valley	$4,524,317	same	Open. Opened November 2023 per About Regional; listed as a completed project by the grantee	Eden Community Access Centre; About Regional, 27 December 2024
Narooma Mountain Bike Trails Hub, Eurobodalla	$3,914,356	same	Open. Opened December 2023 per About Regional; council news refers to the trails as operating	About Regional, 27 December 2024; Eurobodalla Shire Council, 8 May 2025
Improve resilience of four showgrounds, Shoalhaven	$3,835,367	same	No published status found. Not among the projects the council listed as delivered in November 2024	Shoalhaven City Council, 26 November 2024
Muliyaan Cultural and Wildlife Centre, Narooma, Eurobodalla	$3,268,818	same	Not built. Development application withdrawn, per About Regional; no official status published	About Regional, 27 December 2024
Kiah Hall and Wandella Hall rebuilds, Bega Valley	$3,000,000 (shared line)	same	Both open. Kiah rebuilt May 2024 (council); Wandella opened 24 October 2024 (About Regional)	Bega Valley Shire Council; About Regional, 27 December 2024
Huskisson Mangrove Boardwalk, Shoalhaven	$2,443,605	same	Complete, June 2024	Shoalhaven City Council, 26 November 2024
Mogo Local Aboriginal Land Council office, Eurobodalla	$2,078,769	more than $2.9 million	Open. Officially opened by 11 December 2024	Ministerial release, 11 December 2024
Power and communications resilience (26 digital emergency screens), Shoalhaven	$2,000,000	same	Complete. Screens installed by December 2022	Shoalhaven City Council, 26 November 2024
Manyana and Bendalong fire station, Shoalhaven	$1,752,930	$3.48 million project	Construction due to start November 2024; no completion notice found	Shoalhaven City Council, 26 November 2024
Ulladulla Harbour berthing facility, Shoalhaven	$1,750,000	same	Abandoned. Council resolved on 8 April 2024 to suspend the project and invite termination of the funding deed	Shoalhaven City Council minutes, 8 April 2024, MIN24.182
Playability inclusion hub, Bega Valley	$1,730,515	same	No published status found	NSW Government project map
Tilba Halls Future Resilience Project, Eurobodalla	$1,048,399	$3.017 million	Unfinished at October 2025: $86,000 short, council recommended a $60,000 interest-free loan to complete it	Eurobodalla Shire Council mayoral minute, 28 October 2025
Lake Conjola Entrance Road bridge and shared path, Shoalhaven	$1,000,000	$858,739 received	Complete, April 2024	Shoalhaven City Council, 26 November 2024

Three things stand out in that table. First, the gap between the map and the releases: Cobargo's grant went from $9.6 million to $19.9 million, Bega's showground centre from $9.8 million to more than $15 million, Narooma's arts centre from $7.3 million to $9.92 million, the Mogo Land Council building from $2.1 million to more than $2.9 million, and the Tilba halls from $1.05 million to a total of $3.017 million awarded. On the map's own figures the five projects total $29.8 million; on the latest official figures they total about $50.7 million. That is roughly where the $45.6 million of redirected stage-three money went, and it was spent on fewer things, not more.

Second, the time. The Nous evaluation records the program's original intent that every project be complete by 30 June 2023. Of the 20 projects in the table, we could find only one, the Shoalhaven digital screens, finished by then. Everything else that is finished was finished in 2024, 2025 or 2026, and the two largest Bega Valley projects, the showground centre and the main street, reached the finishing line, or are reaching it, three years past that date. The evaluators judged the extensions reasonable, given the challenged posed by ongoing emergencies, including COVID-19 and floods, and the evidence in the table backs them on cause: Shoalhaven's berths were abandoned because tenders in 2023 came in considerably higher than anticipated, within the range of $4.5 to $5.2 million compared to the pre-tender estimate of $2.7 million (Shoalhaven City Council agenda, 8 April 2024, item CL24.92), and the Tilba halls ran short because unforeseen structural issues and regulatory requirements have led to a funding shortfall. Cost, not idleness, is the pattern.

Third, the silence. For two projects worth $5.6 million between them, Shoalhaven's four showgrounds and the Bega Valley inclusion hub, we could find no official account at all of whether the work was done. The Muliyaan centre's $3.27 million grant has no published fate: the only account of its withdrawn development application is a news report. Nobody we could find in government publishes a running list of what each grant became.

Cobargo: the most money, and the longest wait

Cobargo's main street was destroyed on the last day of 2019, and its rebuild became the largest single bushfire grant on the Far South Coast. The 2021 open-round list recorded $9,611,992 for the Cobargo Community Development Corporation to Revitalise the Cobargo CBD; the current map records $19,901,375 for the same line; and the Reconstruction Authority's Completion Program added $2,750,000 of state money to finish the three buildings. That is $22.65 million of public money for a village square, a market hall and a post office, with apartments above. The corporation's own account of why it took so long is on its news page: a construction contract was announced in December 2023 with forecast completion anticipated in mid-2025, the first builder went into voluntary liquidation in March 2024 before starting, a replacement builder took over, and by November 2024 the sites had needed extensive works required to correct issues relating to drainage, ground water and sub-grade behind the Post Office and Market Hall sites (CCDC News and Updates). The page's most recent entry is from June 2025.

What has happened since is reported, not published. About Regional reported on 5 December 2025 that the heavy construction was complete, that the corporation expected businesses to move in from late January onwards and was looking forward to a grand opening in April/May (About Regional). The ABC reported on 9 February 2026 that the corporation's chair said the projects have faced up to 18 months worth of external delays, but they now aim to be finished by March (ABC News). We found no announcement from the corporation, the council or the NSW Government that the buildings have opened. If they have, the record does not show it; if they have not, the record does not explain why. Either way, six years and nine months after the fire, a reader cannot find out from an official source whether Cobargo has its main street back. The Bushfire Resilience Centre across the road is in the same position: its own website says only Opening in 2026, and the ABC's February report said the building was complete but the open date unknown due to bureaucratic complications with neighbouring construction.

Ulladulla: the one that was given back

The berthing facility at Ulladulla Harbour is the only project in the table that was formally abandoned. The council's report to its 8 April 2024 meeting sets out the sequence: $3,027,442 in grants from several streams, including $1,750,000 from the bushfire fund, plus $400,000 of council money; a contract let in February 2022 and terminated two months later; a reduced scope re-tendered in 2023 at prices far above the estimate; a request to the Department for an extra $3.8 million, refused on 8 March 2024 because the project did not represent value for money. A motion to fund the shortfall from council funds lapsed for want of a seconder. The council then resolved, eleven votes to one, to Suspend the Berthing Facility project at Ulladulla Harbour until appropriate funding is available and to tell the Department it was unable to deliver on the objectives of the consolidated BLERF funding deed and that termination of the deed be considered (minutes, MIN24.182). The agenda paper notes that if the deed is cancelled Council would be required to relinquish any unspent grant funding. Whether that money was returned or redirected within the harbour precinct, as the resolution asked, is not something either the council or the Department has since published that we could find.

What Shoalhaven and Eurobodalla say they finished

Shoalhaven City Council is the one authority on this coast that has published a delivered-list of its own. Its 26 November 2024 release says Council received a total of $10 million in funding and walks through nine projects: the Artie Smith Oval precinct at Bomaderry, finished August 2023; the Huskisson mangrove boardwalk, June 2024; the Lake Conjola Entrance Road bridge, April 2024; the Bendeela reservoir and Kangaroo Valley fire water tanks, June 2023 and January 2024; the Conjola Park boat ramp, opened September 2022; 10 telecommunications sites hardened in 2020; 26 digital emergency screens by December 2022; the Lake Conjola fire station extension, under way from June 2024 with completion expected that December; and the Manyana fire station, with construction scheduled to commence on a greenfield site along Bendalong Road in November 2024 (Major works delivered under bushfire recovery fund). It does not mention the berths or the showgrounds.

Eurobodalla's record is on its project pages and in its press releases. The headland trail page, updated June 2026, reads Status: Recently completed and puts the total project at approximately $6.5m, of which $5.25 million came from the bushfire fund (project page). The Mogo Trails release of 8 May 2025 says the network has expanded to an impressive 125 kilometres and that all trails will be ready to ride from Saturday 10 May (Mogo Trails finish line in sight). The one Eurobodalla project with a published shortfall is the smallest: the Central Tilba School of Arts Trust asked the council on 7 October 2025 for an interest-free loan of $60,000 because The total cost to complete the project is $86,000, and the mayoral minute to the 28 October 2025 meeting recommended granting it (MM25/007). A $3 million heritage hall upgrade finishing on a $60,000 council loan is a fair picture of how the last mile of this program has been paid for.

What the January 2026 declarations actually unlocked

Two disasters were declared on this coast in January 2026, and they unlocked very different things. The NSW Reconstruction Authority's list of declarations for 2025-26 records AGRN 1263, Eurobodalla and Bega Valley NSW Bushfire from 7 January 2026, covering both shires, with one form of assistance: Counter disaster operations (Natural disaster declarations from financial year 2025-26, last updated 23 June 2026). In the Government's own words, from a later declaration release, that category is Financial support for state agencies and councils to cover the costs of emergency works undertaken to keep the community safe (ministerial release, 4 March 2026). It pays the firefighting and evacuation bill. It gives nothing to a household, a farm or a business, because the fire, as far as the record shows, destroyed none. The fire was the Yowrie fire in Wadbilliga National Park, about 20 kilometres north-west of Cobargo on the two shires' border; About Regional reported the Cobargo brigade's captain saying it was started by dry lightning on 4 January and detected on 7 January (About Regional, 9 January 2026), and the ABC reported on 9 February 2026 that the Wadbilliga fire had been extinguished only in the week before. A Black Summer declaration this was not; a reader who saw a fire declaration for Cobargo and assumed grants would follow would have been wrong, and the Authority's page is the place to check.

A week later came the weather. AGRN 1260, NSW Severe Weather Event from 14 January 2026, covers Bega Valley, Bellingen, Central Coast and the Northern Beaches and carries the full suite: individual assistance including emergency accommodation and grants for low-income, uninsured residents to replace essential household items and make structural repairs; Concessional loans up to $130,000 and Transport subsidies up to $15,000 for primary producers and small businesses; loans up to $10,000 and grants up to $2,000 for sporting clubs; loans up to $25,000 for not-for-profits; counter disaster operations; and restoration of essential public assets (declarations list). The declaration was announced on 4 March 2026, seven weeks after the event, for severe weather and widespread damage occurring between 14 and 19 January 2026; the Recovery Minister's own words acknowledge that it has taken time to work through the formal declaration process (ministerial release). The Authority's support page for the event, last updated 25 May 2026, carries the same measures and no closing dates (support page). For completeness, the Bega Valley also sits under AGRN 1217, NSW South Coast Severe Weather from 30 June 2025, which activated counter disaster operations and the restoration of public assets only.

The point for a reader is practical. A declaration's number is not its content. Of the three declarations touching this coast in the past fifteen months, one pays for anything a household or business lost, and it is the storm, not the fire.

Our reading

The money mostly became things, and the things are mostly good: halls, trails, an evacuation centre, a land council's home. The program's real failures are of a quieter kind. It promised completion by mid-2023 and the big builds on this coast arrived two to three years later, for reasons the record supports. It spent its reserve on keeping the biggest projects alive rather than funding new ones, which is defensible, but it has not published a single page that says so project by project. And its map, the one public list, still shows figures its own ministers have superseded. None of that would be hard to fix. A government that can publish a map of 365 grants can add a column that says whether each one is finished, and update the amounts. Until it does, the people who paid for it have to do what we did: read the agendas, the mayoral minutes and the council pages one at a time, and accept that for Cobargo's main street, the largest of them all, the official answer is still a blank.