Tuesday, 19 March 2024

Flood recovery

Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (18:48): (791) It is 17 months since the October 2022 floods devastated many parts of northern Victoria, and my request is for the Minister for Emergency Services to support towns rebuilding and recovering from the floods and to address the challenges that I raise today.

I recently attended the 135th anniversary of the Salvation Army in Rochester. The service recognises the significant contribution of many locals who had gone above and beyond to assist residents impacted by the floods, which saw nearly every home in Rochester flooded. There are still hundreds of people living in caravans and sheds, using a portaloo every day. I was told that many of those still living in temporary accommodation desperately need the support of someone who could advocate on their behalf with insurance companies and building contractors in order to make progress. According to their website, Emergency Recovery Victoria was established to help towns rebuild and recover. I ask the minister to get staff on the ground to doorknock Rochester and help those who need it.

The Loddon Herald has reported that in the Loddon shire layers of red tape are holding up 900 flood recovery projects, with just 10 per cent of projects, totalling $30 million, approved to fix damaged roads, culverts and bridges. There has been no approval since last October, and the shire will not be able to complete the works by the June 2025 deadline. The council has been questioned at every stage and been asked to provide more evidence. I have heard that one director working in flood recovery for 20 years said that it was the most frustrating bureaucratic process he has ever been part of.

I was also recently invited by locals to visit Carisbrook, a town that was inundated by floodwaters in January 2011. At that time more than half the town was evacuated and about 260 houses were swamped. In 2022 the community lived through the devastation again. Locals have raised concerns that the works to levees and culverts made the floods even worse. I call upon the state government to work with the local council to support the local community and undertake an independent assessment of the Carisbrook levee plan.

As we look to hold the parliamentary sitting in Echuca on 18 April, members of this chamber will visit for a day, but those who live in these communities live with the impact of the floods every day. While this government spends billions of dollars on city-based projects, I ask the minister to consider these smaller rural communities and provide the people and resources they still desperately need to recover and rebuild after the floods.