Sydney Morning Herald 'Climate change a harsh reality for Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt after year of record floods'
1 January 2023
The false narrative perpetuated by the Labor Government that their predecessors didn't build a single flood mitigation project continues to be repeated in some media. Minister Watt posted on Twitter that Shane Stone had “failed to build a single flood mitigation project”. Bearing in mind that the National Recovery & Resilience Agency was formalized on 1 July 2021 by November 2021 applications opened for $50 million for priority flood mitigation infrastructure projects Australia-wide. The program aimed to deliver $100 million over two years for projects to prepare and protect communities from future devastating flood events. The first $50 million had already been identified starting with the announcement of $9.4 million for the Katherine South flood levy in mid-November 2021 (the NT Labor Government committed to a minimal commitment of $600,000 with work finally completed in October 2022 after much NTG prevarication). Having been agreed with State and Territory counterparts a further 21 projects were ready to be announced. It was not a function of the Commonwealth to build these projects – they were in main co-funded projects controlled by the States (mostly Labor administrations). The Morrison Government through NRRA was committed to mitigating the impacts of major flood events. NRRA supported state, territory, and local governments to construct and improve essential public infrastructure to prepare for extreme weather events. The second round of the National Flood Mitigation Infrastructure Program was designed to build on the success of the program of the previous financial year, with a renewed focus on targeting levees and infrastructure to promote floodplain restoration and green infrastructure initiatives that mitigated flood risk. Over and above the then Emergency Response Fund (ERF), the Morrison Government invested in complementary disaster resilience programs managed by the Agency. This included the Disaster Risk Reduction Package (DRRP), providing $261 million over 5 years, and the Preparing Australia Program (PAP) which provided $600 million over 6 years. Guidelines had been published and applications were planned to close in early 2022. The Agency was assisted and informed by the newly established Australian Climate Service (ACS) comprising BOM, CSIRO, and Geoscience Australia with a $260 million establishment grant. The proposition that the previous Government sat on its hands was patently false but remains largely unchallenged save for Paul Murray on SKY.
- Document type: Media
- Time period: Post Australia Public Service
- People: Mike FOLEY, Murray WATT
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