The prime minister insisted housing developments on land vulnerable to flooding must stop as he revealed an $800 million package, co-funded by the NSW government, to allow up to 2000 flood-impacted residents the opportunity to raise, repair or retrofit their houses to make the more flood resilient.

For homes in the most dangerous areas of NSW’s Northern Rivers, the governments will offer to buy the home and land from the owner.

Albanese said the package provided a way forward for communities devastated by repeated flooding this year.

But, with climate change was affecting many parts of Australia, governments couldn’t keep allowing homes to be built in harm’s way, he said.

“We need to stop development in floodplains for a start,” he told Seven’s Sunrise program on Friday.

“In some places, it is still continuing and we need all state and territory governments, as part of this exercise when the national cabinet next meets, we will be discussing how we make sure that we just get better planning.

“It’s much better to get ahead of a problem than to wait for the disaster to hit.”

Later, Albanese said governments couldn’t keep allowing homes to be built in harm’s way as climate change fuelled an increase in natural disasters.

“We need to respond as governments, not political parties,” he said standing alongside NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet in flood hit Lismore.

“We need to do better on planning, but we also need to do better than thinking we can just do the same thing over and over again.”

The Northern Rivers Resilient Homes Fund comes after ongoing talks between the prime minister and Perrottet about how to best help communities reeling from natural disasters.

Funding will be open to residents impacted by February and March floods in the Ballina, Byron, Clarence Valley, Kyogle, Lismore, Richmond Valley and Tweed local government areas.

The voluntary buyback scheme is on offer to homeowners in the most vulnerable parts of the Northern Rivers, where renewed flooding continues to pose a catastrophic risk to their lives.

Homeowners will be offered cash to either buy back, raise, repair or retrofit their property, based on expert assessments of how severely the flood hit the home, its safety risks and potential future flood levels.

Those eligible will be given a payment based on a valuation of the home and land.

Up to $100,000 will be available to raise homes and up to $50,000 for retrofitting – where flood risk can be mitigated by better building standards.

The state government will also spend $100 million on buying new land in flood-safe locations for new developments in partnership with the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation.

Perrottet said simply rebuilding devastated communities in the wake of natural disasters could not continue in the same way it had in the past.

“I saw first-hand the devastation extreme flooding caused across the Northern Rivers and I hope this program provides relief for so many residents who have suffered for too long,” Mr Perrottet said.

“We are stepping up to provide options for residents to move out of harm’s way and protect themselves and their families.”