Member for Burnett Stephen Bennett stood up in parliament today calling for more flood mitigation action for Bundaberg.
During the debate on a Committee Report on flood resilience of river catchments, Mr Bennett asked if the Government was serious about protecting the thousands of citizens of Bundaberg and Burnett.
“Ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald devastated the region more than five years ago and since then, there’s been plenty of talk but no action,” he said.
“In January 2013, some 2,400 properties were destroyed or damaged, 7000 people were evacuated and 600 businesses were damaged.
“By January 2015, the LNP had completed a study, was moving forward with a group of priority projects and beginning to make submissions for funding for design works for five mitigation options.
“That same year, the Palaszczuk Government determined that yet another study was needed and they sank $4 million into developing a ten year plan for flood mitigation strategy planning.
“They came up with eleven flood mitigation options – most of them the same as those developed by the 2013 Community Reference Group.
“These findings took until early 2017 to be presented, four years after the devastation of the floods and three years after these priority projects for flood mitigation were first identified and recommended.
Mr Bennett said despite being promised that boots would be on the ground over two years ago, there’s still no evidence of any works.
“In the middle of this year, the Bundaberg East Levee remained a “proposed” project with potential sites and details under consideration,” he said.
“Today there’s still no sign of the proposed northern evacuation routes for the outlying rural areas, and the proposed housing buyback scheme has yet to appear.
“I’m asking the Government, are you going to step up and protect thousands of citizens of Bundaberg and Burnett, or must we suffer through another five years of reviews?”
18-10-18