Thursday, 6 March 2025

 Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (12:33): (843) My question is to the Minister for Water. The government released a lacklustre response to this house’s Environment and Planning Committee report into the 2022 floods, supporting in full just 16 of the 73 recommendations. Why did you refuse to support in full important recommendations, including better levee bank management and a ring levee bank trial?

 Gayle TIERNEY (Western Victoria – Minister for Skills and TAFE, Minister for Water) (12:34): I absolutely thank the member for raising this important issue. What we have said is that we understand that there is a real reason for ring levees to be explored further. We support further investigations in this area, and we are looking for community involvement and consultation in respect of this important matter. Mitigation efforts right across the board, whether they be in terms of waterways or townships and private property, are matters that the government is very interested in. In particular, we are interested in public assets being protected, and of course we want further discussions with property owners about what they might be able to do on their properties to protect their investments.

 Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (12:35): On that topic, why has the government refused to support a program to retrofit or raise homes to increase their resilience to flood risk despite the federal government offering funding for such a program?

 Gayle TIERNEY (Western Victoria – Minister for Skills and TAFE, Minister for Water) (12:35): The priority of this government is to work with communities in working through mitigation efforts. That is why we have a range of local flood plans that are being delivered by a range of different communities right across the state. I congratulate those that have really got on board and are working through these issues. This is important work, and I think it is the first time ever that we have been able to get this endeavour underway in a unified and more comprehensive way so that we can ensure that those in our communities feel more confident going forward that every possible effort can be made to mitigate against future flooding.