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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-02-23 Daily Xml
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REGIONAL FLOOD MANAGEMENT

The Hon. J.S. LEE (14:57): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Regional Development a question about flood management in regional areas.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: Regional councils say frustration is growing in their communities about a lack of action by the state government on regional issues. Numerous regional communities have reported on radio last week how dissatisfied they are with the state of regional roads and the flood damage they are facing.

In answering my question about flood management last week on 9 February, the minister reported that the local regional communities can apply for the Local Government Disaster Fund. However, in the case of the Clare and Gilbert Valleys area, it was reported in the Northern Argus on 9 February 2011 that 'only $400,000 is available to the Clare and Gilbert Valleys Council through the Local Government Disaster Fund', leaving the council with 'a $9.5 million shortfall'. Mayor Allan Aughey said:

This is a major financial challenge for our council if we don't get substantial assistance from governments to meet our losses—I am putting this to the state government that this is an impediment to fair treatment in South Australia.

My questions are:

1. In view of the fact that the Local Government Disaster Fund will not be sufficient to meet the repair bill without substantial state and federal government help, will the Minister for Regional Development outline what other funding source will be available to assist regional communities with their problems?

2. The minister said yesterday in this chamber that this government is about action. If this is the case, can the minister outline a clear action plan to resolve the matters in regional areas?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Public Sector Management, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises) (14:59): I thank the honourable member for her most important questions. Indeed, this government is very committed to regional South Australia, as I went to lengths yesterday to outline, but I am happy to repeat that again today if honourable members are not convinced about our commitment. I am happy to go through our commitments again. In the meantime, whilst I believe I have outlined some of the funding arrangements that local governments have available to them, I am happy to do so again. Some of this is the responsibility of the Minister for State/Local Government Relations as well as the Minister for Transport so, again, it does cut across a number of different portfolio areas.

As the Hon. Jing Lee has pointed out, there is a local government disaster fund, and Clare has been able to avail itself of some of those funds. I understand that includes an amount to assist with roads but also an amount to assist in gaining technical advice and assessment of the damage and the extent of their needs. Part of the problem was that it had a rough idea about what was needed, but there was no detailed analysis or engineering input into exactly what was required and exactly what the cost might be.

If I understand it correctly, I believe the disaster fund also provided an amount of money for that assessment to take place. That work was just about to commence when I passed over the portfolio to the Hon. Bernard Finnigan, so I do not know whether or not the work has been completed yet. However, I doubt that extensive work could have been completed within that short time frame. Nevertheless, it is clear that we would need to wait until we had that detailed analysis before the next part of planning could commence.

So disaster funds were made available to address immediate needs, and I think those funds were made available basically the day after; if I recall correctly, it was 24 or 48 hours from the time of the flood event. That upfront money was made available instantly, and I got on the phone and spoke to the mayor myself at the time. I know we were very quick, very responsive, in ensuring that they had some upfront money to begin infrastructure repair and clean up.

There is also the local roads funding, which is, again, distributed through the Minister for State/Local Government Relations. There are significant funds there that can be spent on roads and other infrastructure. Of course, there is also the federal disaster funding, and I have already indicated in this place that one of our strategies was to look at the flood damage right across the state to determine whether we could reach the $30 million or $40 million threshold—I do not recall it exactly, but the figure is about there—that had to be met before the availability of the federal disaster funds was triggered.

Work was being done on that to see whether we could reach that trigger by taking a more comprehensive look at flood damage across the state. However, again, that cannot be progressed until the details of the damage to infrastructure can be assessed, and that requires considerable technical input. I understand that work is still under way. So, as I have pointed out, not only is this a caring government, one that cares about regional South Australia, it is also a government of action.

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