Floods
David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan) (12:36): (643) My question is to the Minister for Water. The devastating floods of October 2022 saw more than 600 homes and businesses flooded in the Maribyrnong township as well as around 47 units in the Rivervue Retirement Village. Over the coming decades rainfall intensity is predicted to increase by 7 per cent per degree of global warming due to the effects of climate change. Increased heavy rainfalls will result in these types of flood events occurring more frequently. The recently revised flood modelling by Melbourne Water confirms that these residences and businesses will be subject to devastating floods more often in the future. In light of this new modelling, residents find themselves unable to insure their homes against inevitable future flooding events, nor are they able to sell them in many cases. So I ask the minister: how is the government proposing to address the invidious flooding threat faced by people living along the Maribyrnong River?
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:37): Thanks, Mr Ettershank, for your question, which is entirely consistent with the really strident advocacy that you have delivered on behalf of the community or part of the communities that you represent across your region. The floods were devastating, and the impact of the floods in 2022 continues to be felt. Before I get into the substantive detail of the Maribyrnong catchment in particular, I just want to note that that impact continues to be felt all the way around the state, and this is something which is not unique to just Victoria. In New South Wales and in Queensland this has been an issue of longstanding anguish and grief and uncertainty for many, many communities. It is something which has also really activated governments of all levels and water authorities and communities to understand better as far as impact is concerned.
As you would be aware, Mr Ettershank and colleagues here, the recent inquiry into the floods has produced a range of findings and recommendations, including as they relate to the resilient homes program and to the work that can be done according to the recommendations and findings in that report to understand, to manage and to mitigate risk in areas that are increasingly susceptible to flooding. Melbourne Water has undertaken the recent revised modelling, which is what you have referred to in your question. This is part of the response to the Pagone review, and Melbourne Water has indicated as a consequence it will provide a review of flood modelling every five years and it will undertake new modelling every decade to understand what the risks look like. This is really necessary, and it requires a significant level of expertise. There is a tender out to process at the moment to make sure we can get an expert assessment of those mitigation options. One of the recommendations on resilient homes calls upon the government to fund what that resilience looks like, and that will have obviously a consequence for what it is that home owners wish to do and are able to do. That might include divestment; it might include being able to see and realise appreciating value of their homes over time.
I am really determined to make sure that we are also seeing our water authorities providing people with good, accurate information that evolves over time, including as we develop and deliver infrastructure in these growing parts of the world as our population increases. We know that the impact of more infrastructure and of changes means that water flows differently across a landscape. When you add to that the greater risk of inundation because of coastal erosion, climate change and rising sea levels, it is a collective series of challenges.
Mr Ettershank, what I would say is that government is continuing to assess the report which has been provided, along with recommendations from this Parliament. We will provide a response to that report, and we will continue alongside Melbourne Water and authorities to provide that support to communities, whether that is early warning systems, emergency management or the sort of things that can give potentially sellers or purchasers of properties a greater measure of confidence about managing that risk.
David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan) (12:41): I thank the minister for her response. Perhaps to get a little more specific, as I mentioned in my substantive question, there were around 47 units in the Rivervue Retirement Village flooded in October 2022. We know that Melbourne Water approved the lowering of the flood overlay for these homes and that had the overlay remained in place, two-thirds of those residences would not have been allowed to be built without significant modifications. A large number of these homes are now subject to flood inundation or will become subject to a revised flood inundation overlay. The elderly residents who bought them in good faith, believing that they would not be subject to flooding, now find that their homes are literally unsellable. Given the role Melbourne Water played in lowering the flood overlay on the site, essentially providing incorrect information, and the vicarious liability the government faces due to Melbourne Water’s actions, has the government considered its moral obligations to buy back these units?
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:42): Thanks, Mr Ettershank, for that supplementary. There are a couple of things in the preamble to that that I would not agree with, including as they relate to a legal question of vicarious liability and the way in which council has approved the overlay and changes to that as it relates to those 47 properties and in accordance with standard practice. I have met with and continue to engage with the Insurance Council of Australia and with Melbourne Water and with councils around what the impact of changed flood modelling is. It is also important to note that this modelling does not change the reality of water moving in and through the landscape; it involves an assessment of what that risk looks like by reference to updated information – hundreds of thousands of data points which are now able to be used to deploy a better understanding of risk. In talking with the insurance council I am also keen to make sure we can understand what actuarial advice and support looks like – again to provide hopefully a better measure of confidence to people, including those 47. I am very happy to continue to talk with you about that work as it progresses.