Wednesday, 21 September 2022

 Mr McCURDY (Ovens Valley) (19:27): (6548) My adjournment tonight is to the Minister for Water in the other place. My adjournment concerns the levee banks along the Murray River, particularly from Yarrawonga to Ulupna Island, near Strathmerton, and I ask: will the minister give a guarantee to my communities that the levee banks have all been thoroughly checked and maintained and are fit for purpose? We know the levee banks are a political hot potato, and there are grey areas about who is responsible for the maintenance of those levee banks. We know that local government authorities like the Moira shire are responsible for the levees that protect the town, but certainly out in the rural areas there are varying degrees as to who is responsible for that maintenance. I have been approached by farmers who are not directly adjacent to the current levee bank, so they cannot do maintenance on the bank themselves. They do not reside next to it—they might be a farm or two away—but they are direct beneficiaries of a stable and well-maintained levee bank to protect their home and their land.

The Cobram SES had a community briefing on Sunday just gone to educate people about the potential outlook and possibility of flooding. Let me say to the minister: as night follows day, I can guarantee that the levee banks will be tested this year, with Dartmouth—I was going to say about to spill, but it has actually started to spill today. Just a trickle has gone over. I do not know whether that is actually identified as a complete spill, but it is trickling over, and I suspect that trickle will turn into a roar in the coming days and weeks. All the floods we have had in the 30 years I have lived in the region have been in October, so we know water is on its way. We need a guarantee that the levee banks are ready for the floods that are coming our way. Keeping the water within the levee banks is vital for the long-term protection of our communities, and it is vital that the levee banks are ready to do their job.