The Bushfire Local Economic Recovery (BLER) program was created after the 2019–20 bushfires. It is co-funded by the Commonwealth and NSW governments. This audit assessed how effectively the Department of Regional NSW and Resilience NSW administered rounds one and two of the BLER program.

The Housing and Accommodation Support Initiative Plus (HASI Plus) is a program for people with severe mental illness and significant difficulties managing day to day living. The Ministry commissioned the Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC) to evaluate the HASI Plus program. This is the report of the evaluation.

This report finds that despite promises of significant water savings, the decision-making process for the Menindee Lakes project was poor practice and a poor example of effective governance. This profoundly affected the legitimacy and implementation of the project, particularly in relation to the local community and ecological condition of Menindee Lakes and the Barka/Darling River.

The ‘Living with COVID’ program was a national approach to connecting COVID positive people with the right level of care in the post-acute phase of the national COVID Response. The evaluation found the program had supported patient care through efficient triage and by connecting people to primary care, enabling early intervention to enhance health outcomes.

This paper discusses the role of local government in the three-tiered system of government in Australia, with special reference to the roles of state and local government in New South Wales.