More flood victims in northern NSW will be able to access extra financial support, with relief measures extended to four additional local council areas.
Residents impacted by the disaster in the Ballina, Byron, Kyogle and Tweed local government areas will be able to access two more weekly disaster payments.
The payments will be $1,000 per adult and $400 per child and will be available from 22 March.
The support comes a week after additional support payments were given to residents in the Lismore, Clarence Valley and Richmond Valley council areas.
However, there was criticism from residents and local MPs that areas further north that were affected by the floods were not included in the original expansion of payments.
The inclusion of support to the four new local councils comes after assessments were made of the flood areas by the National Recovery and Resilience Agency and Emergency Management Australia.
Emergency Management Minster Bridget McKenzie said support was being rolled out as quickly as possible.
"While people in northern NSW aren't able to work, are still clearing out their homes and businesses, the extra two $1,000 payments we're rolling out to eligible families and individuals will support our communities as they start to rebuild their lives," she said.
Government Services Minister Linda Reynolds said the payments would help provide additional relief to those who had been impacted by the natural disaster.
"The catastrophic scale and impact of what we're seeing in this region of northern NSW is exactly why this extra support is needed," she said.
So far, more than $862 million in disaster recovery payments have been made to more than one million people in NSW and Queensland.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison earlier on Thursday denied flood support measures were being delayed until he returned from a trip to Perth.
"When you're talking about the investments of hundreds of millions of dollars — and indeed billions now — then people would expect this to go through the proper assessment of the proposals which we did yesterday," Mr Morrison told reporters in Perth.
New South Wales Treasurer Matt Kean also said there was no hold up and an announcement is imminent.
"We're working through a process with the prime minister's office and the federal government," he told ABC Radio.
But Labor's Shadow Housing Minister Jason Clare was critical of a delay in support getting out to victims of the flood.
"Help is being held up because Scott Morrison hasn't signed the paper work," he said.
"We know Scott Morrison doesn't hold a hose. The least he could do is hold a pen."
Earlier on Thursday, Social Services Minister Anne Ruston announced the government would provide an additional $9 million to 83 emergency and food relief services supporting flood victims in northern NSW and Queensland.
The funding will help local services provide food, grocery vouchers, clothes, household items and petrol for people who have been impacted by the floods.
Disaster assistance has also been extended to the Queensland local government area of Balonne following the extreme rainfall and flooding in the southern parts of the state.
The other 22 local government areas receiving support include Brisbane, Bundaberg, Cherbourg, Fraser Coast, Gold Coast, Goondiwindi, Gladstone, Gympie, Ipswich, Lockyer Valley, Logan, Moreton Bay, Noosa, North Burnett, Redland, Scenic Rim, Somerset, South Burnett, Southern Downs, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba and Western Downs.
