Floodplain Management Project must include the whole Lockyer Valley

Lockyer Valley Regional Council is calling for a greater inclusion of the Lockyer Valley in the Queensland Reconstruction Authority’s (QRA) Brisbane River Strategic Floodplain Management Plan and related projects.

Council has been involved in the development of the Plan since 2012, which is focused on providing the framework for a consistent approach to managing flood risk across the floodplain.

Lockyer Valley Regional Council Mayor, Cr Tanya Milligan said while Council has no issue with the overall project, the 5-year review is the ideal time to address the limited inclusion of a region that regularly deals with significant flooding and encourages QRA to keep rural areas front of mind.

“Following our review of the most recent draft strategic outcomes, each upper catchment, be it the Laidley and Lockyer Creeks or the Bremer River has caused regional flooding impacts downstream.

“We’re calling for these catchments to be considered regionally using the latest available information, whether looking at flood extents, flood monitoring, warning, resupply, emergency management or resilience and planning and the regional impacts and management.

“When the initial Plan was released in 2019, the then Minister for State Development, Manufacturing, Infrastructure and Planning said it was important to take a whole-of-catchment, regional approach and this is what we expected would happen.

“The range of issues we have looked to highlight multiple times over the past few years, yet once again nothing has changed.

“The Plan is focused on the Brisbane River catchment and despite all our region’s creek systems feeding water into the catchment, yet we are now expected to set up a local flood gauge monitoring system as will all the other councils in a short period of time – it’s baffling.

“The previous Palaszczuk Government assured us that all local governments in South East Queensland would be included in order to set this national benchmark for floodplain management – but how is that meant to happen if they’re only concerned about the impacts to Brisbane City?

“We’re simply advocating for a genuine whole of region approach, to ensure this most vital Plan ensures our community is both protected and prioritised moving forward,” Mayor Milligan said.

The Brisbane River Strategic Floodplain Management Plan project is a joint initiative of the Australian Government, Queensland Government, Brisbane City Council, Ipswich City Council, Lockyer Valley Regional Council, Somerset Regional Council and Seqwater and is managed by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority.