Burke shire calls for money to raise causeways, height of airstrip tarmac

Shire mayor Ernie Camp, wearing his black hat and accompanied by his deputy Tonya Murray, told reporters on the lawns of Queensland's Parliament that some people were still cut off after three months.

"One community of 2000 people at Doomadgee is still locked off - where would that be acceptable," he said.

"The Clem Seven tunnel saves Brisbane drivers eight minutes.

"The same money in the Gulf saves us a lot more than eight minutes."

RELATED: Urgent call to step up north west flood support

Cr Camp called for immediate help in the form of raised causeways and a raising of the town's airstrip, both for emergency relief and so that they could continue to trade and be part of the economy.

He called the flooding in March a perfect storm of three major river systems colliding at their peak to create an inland sea.

"Previous records were of 10 metres - this went to 18 metres," he said.

"We have these floods in the gulf quite regularly but not to this extent - this has broken all records.

"If we didn't have flood events we wouldn't have good pastoral land, all the fishing, but I don't want to see another like this in my lifetime."

Cr Camp told waiting media that when the airstrip at Burketown went underwater, it meant people had to be evacuated singly by helicopter, and there was no access for the Royal Flying Doctor Service when an emergency was declared.

He was supported by Traeger MP Robbie Katter, who said listening ears was one thing but declared it was now time for the government to 'talk turkey'.

"Let's see what we can do to stop communities being shut off for three months," he said.

"You can't have people evacuated when there's an ability to move beyond that.

"I think it's tough for the Burke shire to come down here to Brisbane and hear talk in parliament of what will be a $10b or $20b Olympics event, a near-on $3b Gabba rebuild, a $7b traffic tunnel.

"They can't be told there's no $75m for road crossings or communities locked up for three months of the year from rain events, not just a flood event."

Cr Camp took a similar message to Canberra in recent weeks as well, saying the process of making communities such as Burketown and Doomadgee more resilient was a responsibility of all levels of government.

"Having that infrastructure, especially those river crossings raised to 1.5m would allow us to trade, not only in the Burke Shire," he said.

"We want resilient creek crossings so we have the opportunity to trade, and for the well being and mental health of our community.

"I would like to think that work could start on those next year.

"We have waited decades - does one have to wait another ten years - we can't wait another decade, otherwise you really are putting our communities at risk."

He said Transport and Main Roads had worked hard to make the road from Burke and Wills usable, and that all but five of the 20 houses inundated were habitable, but businesses and cattle stations were still in the process of cleaning up.

"It'll take a number of years to get back to where we were," he said.

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