Stephen with Minister Crisafulli, Mayor Forman and DC Brett Pointing
Queensland’s push to end the madness of replacing vulnerable infrastructure with replicas that are destroyed in the next flood is gathering steam with an $80 million ‘betterment’ fund announced today.
Local Government, Community Recovery and Resilience Minister David Crisafulli said the fund would change the way councils recovered from natural disasters.
“This is the start of building stronger, more resilient infrastructure,” Mr Crisafulli said.
“It’s time to put an end to the madness of forcing councils to repeatedly replace the same infrastructure in the same place that will be knocked over again the next time it rains.
“We will never flood-proof a state like Queensland but we can rebuild in a better way that will make it easier for communities to bounce back after nature strikes.
“Instead of seeing things washed away time and time again, councils can start replacing flood damaged infrastructure such as bridges, roads and culverts to an improved standard that will last for a generation or more.”
Mr Crisafulli said the State would match the Federal Government’s $40 million betterment commitment, to create the $80 million fund, but more was needed.
“It falls well short of the $200 million fund we had asked for, so we’ll continue to lobby the Federal Government for the shortfall,” he said.
“Yes, it may cost a little more to do it right the first time, but it will not only save money in the long term, it will also allow communities to get back on their feet a lot faster.”
“Queensland needs another $60 million from the Federal Government, which we will match.
“We’ll also push hard to have the restriction to only fund local government projects lifted so key state-owned infrastructure can also be improved.”
Council submissions are due by 16 April 2013.