Wednesday, 4 October 2023

Department of Treasury and Finance

Budget papers 2023–24

Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (17:22): I rise to speak on the state budget, which raises the budget for Goulburn–Murray Water, the authority responsible for managing water storages in the north of the state. I particularly want to talk about Lake Eildon and particularly want to talk about a question that was asked in question time today of the minister about the inflows and the releases from Lake Eildon and the warnings, or lack of warnings, that are being given to locals. Mr Davis asked this question out of genuine interest in the matter and certainly in the genuine interest of my constituents in the north of the state who are at the mercy of Goulburn–Murray Water and their releases from Lake Eildon. If you are right near the dam wall, you get very little notice that you are about to be flooded. We have been hearing this constantly from people close to storages during the flood inquiry.

What we have seen this week is apparently 108 millimetres of rainfall in one day at Lake Eildon, which is the highest rainfall since – I think it is the highest rainfall on record, actually. I am just trying to look for the information I had on that rainfall, but it is certainly very high. The previous record was around about 68 millimetres, I think, in previous years. During question time the minister was very unhelpful in providing any sort of answer on this issue to Mr Davis.

At 11:45 this morning an employee from Goulburn–Murray Water told some of our local residents that releases from the lake will increase from 4500 megalitres per day immediately, ramping up to about 10,000 megalitres per day from this afternoon – and that is on top of the tributary flows – and that releases into the Goulburn tomorrow would increase to 20,000 megalitres per day, but they were unable to tell a definite time that these increases will start. Now, this is very important if you are close to the dam wall, because the water is going to be in your paddocks very, very soon. The employee also said that there may be further increases above the 20,000 megalitres per day in following days, depending on inflows. This is not good enough. Goulburn–Murray Water then started telling a few people this story and said, ‘Oh, spread the word amongst your neighbours.’ There needs to be far better warning for people about the releases from the water storages. There needs to be adequate warning given to people, because it places people’s families and their stock at risk if they are not given adequate warning.

It is not good enough for the minister to just wipe her hands and very smugly sort of wipe the issue away during question time. This is a very serious business. The minister needs to realise that what she is managing is a very, very serious situation for people who are close to the source of the water and indeed for people who are downstream of the water. I know that people in my area watch the Goulburn–Murray Water website daily to see what the levels of the storages are. I know that people in Rochester watch the Goulburn–Murray Water website daily to monitor the storage levels at Lake Eppalock. People are afraid. It is only less than 12 months since we were all flooded out last year, and there are many people who are still afraid. There needs to be far better and far more adequate warning systems provided by this government to people who are at risk of being flooded.

I have just found those rainfalls: apparently yesterday 108 millimetres of rain fell on the Eildon township. The previous highest single day of Eildon rain in an October was just 65.8 millimetres on 21 October 1953. So this is the highest day on record since records began, and people are very nervous. The minister needs to take this far more seriously and make sure those warnings are given, and she should be thoroughly briefed. She should have known those inflows and the releases from Eildon when the question was asked in question time today.