Thursday, 23 June 2022

Benambra electorate flood mitigation

Mr TILLEY (Benambra) (17:25): (6454) I wish to raise a matter for the attention of the Minister for Water, and the action I seek is for the minister to provide details of flood preparations and mitigation for properties downstream of the Dartmouth and Hume water storages. The water in Lake Hume is already on the rise, and you can see that at a stump near the Kangaroo General Store at Bonegilla—when that is covered, the dam is full. That is the local method we look at at that particular storage area. But anyway, those closer to Dartmouth are also fearful. The dam above the Mitta River is just under 95 per cent full. At the same time last year she was at 65 per cent. The immediate forecast is for more rain, and the catchment is soaked, so the sponge is full, and that will immediately mean rain will drain straight into the storages. Furthermore, the long-range outlook is also wet. Those with far more experience than me say the dams will spill. They say that there is not enough air space in Dartmouth for the winter inflows and Hume will spill as part of the flow-on effect from that.

This week the Murray-Darling Basin Authority told stakeholders the potential for flooding will exist through winter, spring and beyond. Now, that admission is incredible given the authority’s forecasting relies on serially correlated flows. This is based on 125 years of records, and history shows that this modelling has been exceeded in 124 of those 125 years. Farmers say to me, ‘If they don’t know how much is coming into the dams, how can they forecast how much is going downstream?’. These property owners have water pumps and other infrastructure in harm’s way with flooding. We have farmers with stock that will need to be moved, and, for example, in Albury, on just the other side of the river from us, the River Deck Café, and other parts of the town, will again be held to account for its name as it is likely to be cut off by the Murray River.

Caravan parks will need also to relocate vans and for permanent accommodation remove furniture, beds and other valuables. There is critical infrastructure that comes under threat. People are nervous because past experience has suggested that warnings come a little bit too late. Once you could rely on the gauge readings at Heywood Bridge at the base of Lake Hume, and the Kiewa River gauges provided a guide to how much water was coming downstream. Heywood has been giving dodgy readings for years, and the stakeholders were told yesterday that weeds were to blame. This leaves the riverfront landholders in the dark, watching the rising dam levels, fearing the worst.

The most recent experience in 2016 saw the opening of the Hume Dam spillway with no forewarning and no consideration for what was to occur downstream. Local businesses and farms were inundated, a quarry was flooded and the main gas line to Albury and surrounding areas was at significant risk of rupturing as a result of the water pressures, while the New South Wales–Victoria power interconnector was also under threat. Albury Wodonga Health had to truck in gas supplies in case of the worst. It is a case of forecasting, it is a case of communication, it is a case of pre-planning, and it should never get to a hair trigger and a last-minute disregard for those downstream.