Crisafulli calls out Qld government on flood mitigation

Accompanied by Warrego MP Ann Leahy and Maranoa Regional Council Mayor Tyson Golder, Mr Crisafulli flew into town to inspect the effect that the eastern diversion channel, constructed with funds provided in part by the Newman government, in which Mr Crisafulli was Recovery and Resilience Minister, had on flooding in Bungil Creek.

He said many Roma residents were probably unaware that without the flood mitigation measures put in place following the devastating floods in 2010 and 2012, they could have been preparing to evacuate homes after the heavy rain and wild winds experienced in the last week.

According to Maranoa Regional Council Mayor Tyson Golder, diverting the water dropped the flood level at Roma by almost a metre.

"Without that we'd have been triggering the start of planning for evacuation centres and so forth," he said. "Even though it's nowhere near the size of 2012, it's made a major difference - you've only got to see the amount of water that's being shifted through (the diversion channel)."

Deputy mayor Geoff McMullen said without the channel, water would have been going through yards and would have been close to some houses.

"People didn't realise that it was going down the drain instead," he said.

Mr Crisafulli said a lack of any substantive flood mitigation effort by the state government over the past seven years meant that the day of reckoning was coming this summer.

"We've walked away from that as a state and we need to get back to it," he said. "Councils need to identify projects and help with alignment but ultimately it's the state and federal governments, but primarily the state, that's got to stump up the money and drive it through with councils."

Ms Leahy, whose home is at Roma, said the diversion channel had done its job in keeping the town safe.

"You would not be at work today if that diversion channel was not there, and neither would I," she said.

Mr Crisafulli said life in Roma on Friday, where people were going to work, taking children to school, and going to sports training was vastly different to what it could have been like.

"They don't have to ring their insurer, they don't go through the heartache of, where did I leave the photo album, the pet's missing, I hope Grandma's OK on the other side of town - none of that happened," he said.

"If we build infrastructure like this we can create a situation where people can invest in regional areas knowing that they can have a good lifestyle and a secure investment."

The diversion channel and levee bank combined were built for a total cost of $26m, partially funded by the Newman government's Royalties for Regions scheme.

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Cr Golder took the opportunity of the visit to call for governments to put money into betterment funding rather than just rebuilding what had been lost.

"Federal and state governments have really got to get their heads around how investing now saves investing more in the future, by reducing the amount we keep replacing time after time," he said.

"After flood events, the amount of money councils in Queensland spend that is preventable is huge.

"It seems to be much easier to get money to put things back the same but doing something better to reduce it is very hard."

Mr Crisafulli said the LNP was interested in a further stage of Roma's flood mitigation plan, which involved further diversions upstream to take the peaks off floods coming down. Cr Golder said that had not been decided on by the council yet.

It has approved expenditure for three super pumps inside the levee to suck out the water that is trapped inside, and is working on a storm water remediation plan at Railway Dam to reduce localised flooding.

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