The Nationals Member for Northern Victoria Gaelle Broad was contacted by local residents impacted by the January 2024 floods and hosted a roundtable in Bendigo today to listen to their concerns.
“They raised a range of issues including continued development in flood prone areas; drainage and maintenance problems; and the heartbreak and frustration associated with multiple flood events,” Ms Broad said.
“Some residents, who were told they were at risk of a ‘one in 100 year flood’ have actually been flooded three times in three years.
“After floods hit our region again in January this year I visited Huntly, Yea and Rochester to listen to locals talk about the impact on their communities. These communities have experienced successive floods,” Ms Broad said.
Ms Broad said wider issues were affecting many people.
“There is no mental health plan and support is lacking due to staff changes and the short-term contracts that finish in June this year.”
Ms Broad said primary producers who had asked for assistance with issues such as fencing losses and lost crops found that Agriculture Victoria staff were “missing in action”.
“Local councils facing further flood damage to roads and bridges cited a lack of funding and mountains of paperwork to again apply for grant funding and prove flood damage. Rather than ‘build back better’ to aid resilience, they can only rebuild to the same level, so history can repeat itself.
“In Rochester up to 500 homes are yet to be repaired and locals still live in caravans and sheds nearly 18 months on from the October 2022 floods. The Rochester hospital needs support to build a levee around it to create an emergency centre that could be used in the future.”
Ms Broad said locals were very concerned that calls for the Minister for Water to review operations at Lake Eppalock had fallen on deaf ears and the much-publicised Flood Study had not yet started.
Ms Broad spoke about the floods in Parliament and the need to ensure proper supports were in place for communities that have been affected.
Media Contact: Linda Barrow 0484 303 764 linda.barrow@parliament.vic.gov.au
