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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-07-27 Daily Xml
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RIVERLAND LEVEE BANKS

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (17:37): I too would like to participate in an adjournment grieve this afternoon, just to fill up a little bit more time. I would like to talk about the levee banks that are positioned around Renmark and Lyrup in the Riverland. Those levee banks were built for a very good reason back in 1956 to deal with the floods that inundated particularly Renmark and Lyrup in the region.

Many of you here might not know that Renmark is located on a river flood plain and is in actual fact an island. Renmark is surrounded by the River Murray on one side and the Bookmark Creek on the other side. So, whenever we have significant flows or high river events, Renmark is surrounded by water. We have bridges on either side, on the Sturt Highway and the Ral Ral highway, that allows people to move in and out of Renmark in particular.

I think the questions are: who is the owner of the levee banks and who is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of those levee banks if we do have another flood event or a particularly high river again? I would like to reflect on what happened with the flood events in Queensland and New South Wales. In particular, if we look at what happened with the flood events in Japan, they did have seven-metre-high levee banks, particularly concrete in most of the regions that were affected by the tsunamis, because that is a fairly regularly occurrence over there.

If we look at what Renmark and Lyrup are about to experience, we have seen a high river event this year. All the Murray-Darling Basin catchments are wet. All the tributary rivers, creeks and wetlands are full. If we were to have another significant rain event like we have had this year, there is no doubt that we would experience particular flood events coming down into South Australia. To realise that that is a real possibility, we only need to look at the levee banks that surround both Renmark and Lyrup and they are in need of maintenance. They are in need of significant money being spent on them to bring them up to date to prevent Renmark going under water.

What is the cost to the town; what is the cost to the economy; what is the cost to the state government? We look at the significant cost to the federal government and the state government not only monetary-wise but also the mental health issues that people had to endure going through those floods. Some of those communities went under water not just once or twice, but up to three times.

We need to look at who has the responsibility for these levee banks in the Riverland. It is reported that it would cost about $4 million to have the levee banks upgraded and maintained. It has been a topic of discussion between councils, local government, the state government and, in some cases, the federal government as to who is going to pay for the maintenance and who is going to keep these levee banks maintained. To date, the state government is saying, 'It is not our responsibility'. At the meeting next week with the minister, the mayor and the CEOs of Renmark/Paringa, I think we need to negotiate a fair and equitable outcome so that we can have those levee banks repaired and maintained so that we can deal with the real potential of a flood coming into this state next year.

The science is saying that we are looking at above average rainfall and, with the basin at capacity, the only bit of room to wriggle is the Dartmouth Dam, which is at about nearly 60 per cent capacity. Hume is full; Medindee Lakes are full; the river is full; and the wetlands—all the environmental assets that we have along the river system—are full. The ground is wet so any rain that we get at the moment is running into the river, and running down the river and out to sea. That is a great event and something that we need to see happen, but we need to have provisions in place to safeguard the communities and the towns. It would cost huge amounts of money to fix if we were to experience a flood event.

Some of these levee banks have flat tops on them now so, when it rains, the water sits on top of them. Initially, when they were built, there was a mound on top so that the water hit the levee bank and ran away. We have rabbit holes and we have damage caused by vehicles driving along the tops of the levee banks over these years. Just remembering that these levee banks were built in 1956 to combat a very high river event or a flood event to keep both Renmark and Lyrup dry. Over the years, we have also looked at the degradation that these levee banks have suffered. It is only a matter of time—nothing lasts forever. It is all about keeping things maintained—just like a vehicle, a house, or perhaps a government.

I hope that we have a fruitful discussion with the minister next week, and with the mayors and CEOs from those respective local government areas, and that we can get an outcome and that we will strike a balance and have the levee banks fixed and maintained, because the $4 million repair tag is a full year's rates that come into Renmark, Paringa and Lyrup. Here is hoping that we get a significant rain event next year with very little damage. I think we were let off the hook this year with major flood events on the eastern seaboard—the northern part of the catchment, the northern part of the basin.

We never really got the flood event that normally happens into South Australia. We see the water coming down the Darling and down the Murray, and, when it meets at the junction, that is when we have trouble. This year we saw some water coming down the Darling, then we would have a couple of weeks' break and then it would come down the Murray. We were very, very fortunate not to have that flood event happen this year, but, mark my words, when it does happen, we will see it come in monumental proportion.

Yes, we all pray for rain. None of us prays for flood, but that is just something that we have to deal with at the time. Again, it needs to be recognised that levee banks are there, that they do need to be maintained, and that it must be a shared cost and not dealt with on a local government-only basis.

Mrs Geraghty: For goodness sake! Member for Hammond, do you have to?

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