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A year on from Lismore's devastating floods the community has paused to reflect, reviving painful memories for many exhausted residents still waiting to have a permanent home again.

Five lives were lost and more than 3000 homes were damaged or destroyed in the NSW Northern Rivers city on February 28 last year, when a month of record rain raised the Wilsons River to a record high of 14.4 metres.

On Tuesday evening residents met for a gathering of reflection and healing, which included messages of hope from local pastors, musical performances and a minute's silence.

The memorial followed a private ceremony acknowledging the herculean effort of those involved in the "tinnie flotilla", who ferried hundreds of people from rooftops to safety.

The event kicks off three weeks of events in the city, including a music festival in the CBD this weekend and a celebrity cricket match on March 11.

Governor General David Hurley told the assembled crowd that there were many strands to recovery.

"The community heals as individuals, then the community heals and grows together," he said.

"I'm an optimist for what I see every day in my travels around Australia.

"Through bushfires, pandemic, floods and drought, I've seen some of the best qualities you could hope to see in people.

"I see something special and different in this community.

"I see a community that put its hand up collectively when it was under stress and got itself through - and is doing exactly the same now as it tries to recover."

Lismore mayor Steve Krieg said this first anniversary will be tough for the community.

"It is still so emotional," he told ABC TV on Tuesday.

"We have thousands of people living in temporary accommodation, they're paying mortgages on houses that are unliveable."

About 60 per cent of businesses have returned to the CBD, but the relocation of schools means hundreds of their customers have gone.

Ella Buckland, whose house was inundated with 1.5 metres of water, said when the crisis hit everyone was running on adrenaline.

"Now everyone is just exhausted," she told AAP.

The anniversary of the disaster revived painful memories for Harper Dalton.

"I wasn't aware previously ... how traumatised I am by what's happened in our community and losing everything," he said.

Mr Dalton, who is still waiting to find out if the government will move his home to higher ground as part of a $700 million recovery scheme, thought he would be further down the recovery track.

"I'm pretty disappointed and feeling greater desperation as more time goes on, because it could technically flood next week or next month and nothing's changed."

National Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and state Labor leader Chris Minns attended the evening memorial.

Amid criticism for the speed of the government's buyback scheme, Mr Perrottet noted the mammoth task facing authorities and the community.

"It will be a challenge and we will stand with those communities, as we have over the last 12 months," he said on Monday.

Mr Minns, in the Northern Rivers town of Tumbulgum ahead of the memorial, said Labor had kept a close eye on the rollout of comparable home buyback grants in Queensland, where the government had offered to buy more than 130 homes.

"I think there's lessons to be learned between the two jurisdictions," he said.

"I'm going to leave that for another day because today is obviously about the commemoration of lives lost."

NSW Greens MP Cate Faehrmann said less than half of Lismore's flood victims have been able to find new homes.

"If you compare what has happened with the Queensland government offering support ... the NSW government is way too slow, Ms Faehrmann said.

The first home buyback offers were issued on February 21, with all 250 offers expected to be issued by April.

© AAP 2023

Superannuation balances above $3 million will be taxed at a higher rate as the Albanese government hunts for opportunities to improve the budget bottom line.

The changes won't come in for another two years and will apply to about 80,000 people in a move forecast to generate billions in extra tax revenue.

Starting from 2025/26, the concessional tax rate applied to earnings for superannuation accounts with balances above $3 million will be 30 per cent, double the flat rate that currently applies.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the "modest adjustment" would mean 99.5 per cent of Australians received the same generous tax breaks as they had previously, while the remainder would get less generous tax breaks.

Any changes will require legislation passing parliament.

The adjustment is expected to generate $2 billion in the first full year and $3.2 billion over five years.

"It's prospective on future earnings, not retrospective, and doesn't come in for more than two years," Dr Chalmers told reporters on Tuesday.

The announcement follows a week of fierce debate about the sustainability and fairness of tax breaks on superannuation contributions and earnings.

Treasury analysis released on Tuesday shows the tax breaks are collectively worth up to $50 billion a year and largely flow to high-income earners.

Dr Chalmers said the revenue would not be redirected into another purpose but would instead be used to improve the structural position of the budget.

"Every dollar that's spent on a tax break for people with tens of millions of dollars in super is a borrowed dollar that makes the deficit bigger," he said.

Asked if Australians could be certain there would be no changes to super affecting more than the top 0.5 per cent of account-holders, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it was clear the government was focused on those with high balances.

"It's hard to argue that those levels are about actual retirement incomes, which is what superannuation was for," he said.

The government said super tax concessions were the priority, despite the burden posed by other measures such as negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts.

"The 10 biggest tax expenditures are worth more than $150 billion annually - around a third of the top 10 is made up of superannuation tax discounts," Dr Chalmers said.

The Treasury analysis of tax expenditures shows concessional treatment of super contributions will cost about $25.3 billion in uncollected revenue in 2022/23.

In 2019/20, 30 per cent of the benefit went to people who were among the top 10 per cent of income-earners.

Men attracted an average benefit of $1950, compared with a $1390 average benefit for women.

Greens leader Adam Bandt said he would discuss the changes with Labor, but the "modest proposal" ignored other, more responsible budget policies.

"Let's look at reining in the stage three tax cuts ... that's the kind of change that will make a difference to people, not winding back super tax cuts on one hand only to give the very same people a $9000-a-year tax cut," he said.

Liberal deputy leader Sussan Ley said it was another broken election promise from Labor following pledges on energy prices, housing costs and workplace relations.

"The prime minister is reneging on promises he made ... before the election and legislating commitments he didn't even mention once," she said.

Council on the Ageing chief Patricia Sparrow said making the changes after the next election but flagging them now would give people time to assess their impact.

Tony Negline, from Chartered Accountants ANZ, said the shift would have a big impact on a small number of people who had played by the rules.

"Investing in superannuation in this country is like trying to shoot a moving target flying in circles over shifting goal posts," he said.

© AAP 2023

Superannuation balances above $3 million will be taxed at a higher rate as the Albanese government looks for opportunities to improve the budget bottom line.

The changes won't come in for another two years and will apply to about 80,000 people with super balances above $3 million in their accounts.

Starting from 2025/26 - probably after the next federal election - the concessional tax rate applied to future earnings for balances above $3 million will be 30 per cent.

"The modest adjustment we announce today means 99.5 per cent of Australians with superannuation accounts will continue to receive the same generous tax breaks, and the 0.5 per cent of people with balances above $3 million will receive less generous tax breaks," Treasurer Jim Chalmers said.

Any changes will require legislation passing parliament.

The adjustment is expected to generate $2 billion in the first full year and $3.2 billion over five years.

"It's prospective on future earnings, not retrospective, and doesn't come in for more than two years," Dr Chalmers told reporters on Tuesday.

The announcement follows a week of fierce debate about the sustainability and fairness of super tax breaks.

Treasury analysis released on Tuesday shows the tax breaks are collectively worth up to $50 billion a year and largely flow to high-income earners.

Dr Chalmers said the revenue would not be redirected into another purpose, but used to improve the structural position of the budget.

"And every dollar that's spent on a tax break for people with tens of millions of dollars in super is a borrowed dollar that makes the deficit bigger," he said.

Asked if Australians could be certain no changes were coming to super that would affect more than the top 0.5 per cent of super balances, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it was clear the government was focused on high balances.

"It's hard to argue that those levels are about actual retirement incomes, which is what superannuation was for," he told reporters in Canberra.

The government said super tax concessions were the priority, despite the burden posed by other tax concessions and exemptions, such as negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts.

"The 10 biggest tax expenditures are worth more than $150 billion annually - around a third of the top 10 is made up of superannuation tax discounts," Dr Chalmers said.

The Treasury analysis of tax expenditures shows concessional treatment of super contributions will cost about $25.3 billion in uncollected revenue in 2022/23.

In 2019/20, 30 per cent of the benefit went to people who were among the top 10 per cent of income-earners.

Men attracted an average benefit of $1950, compared with the $1390 average benefit for women.

Tax breaks on super earnings similarly advantage wealthier individuals more, and tend to benefit men more than women.

The government will consult on the changes ahead of the May budget.

© AAP 2023