Lismore locals banded together in their own tinnies to save their neighbours from floodwaters last year because Emergency services were overwhelmed.
As the town recovers from its catastrophic flooding, Lismore Mayor Steve Krieg says he's still learning about the disaster.
"We're hearing now that some of our flood warning systems, our rain gauges, were damaged in the 1974 flood and haven't been upgraded or improved. So that's unbelievable to think we live in one of the wealthier countries in the world and we can't even keep our residents safe. So it really has been a debacle."
Communities were uninformed and exposed, with the aftermath revealing some vital flood gauges weren't working or weren't maintained.
The federal environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, says the gauges were not part of a unified system.
"In fact, there are 1,400 flood gauges owned by 41 different councils. Some of the flood gauges are owned by different organisations, private organisations or individuals. They don’t talk to each other, many of them are very old, they’re at the end of their useful life, may aren’t working properly, the readings are inconsistent, they’re just not good enough."
Queensland was also hit hard by the flooding last year.
It will be given first priority, with a 50-50 federal-state cost split, with other states to follow.
Alison Smith from the Local Government Association of Queensland has welcomed the new plan.
"Local councils right across Queensland have been calling for this announcement for years. It is vital that Queensland's flood warning early detection network is improved and is maintained consistently going forwards, because this is a matter of saving lives. It's all about community safety."
The Bureau of Meteorology told Senate Estimates in February, that across Australia there were 10,000 gauges in the National Flood Warning network, managed by more than 100 authorities and third parties.
