Araluen MP Robyn Lambley has slammed the Northern Territory (NT) government for its alleged inaction on Alice Spring's flood mitigation strategy after some residents were slapped with a whopping 300% insurance premium increase.
According to ABC, the skyrocketing flood insurance premiums were blamed on discrepancies in flood mapping between insurers and government maps.
Lambley said the NT government allocated $10 million in May 2018 for flood mitigation – with detention basins deemed potential options if required by flood modelling – despite a $155 million flood mitigation recommendation over 10 years from the defunct flood mitigation advisory committee in 2017. Now, she claimed that the NT government has not yet spent the $10 million budget.
“I hadn't realised that instead of actually spending the money, [the NT government] commissioned $246,000 more advice from local experts firm WRM, in respect to flood mitigation measures in Alice Springs,” Lambley said, as reported by ABC.
“There's been a lot of talk about flood mitigation in Alice Springs over the last seven years, but I can't find much action at all,” she added. “If governments are onto it and delivering for the people, then the cost of insurance premiums will drop. So, the government is not delivering for us on this.”
Six months ago, the government vowed to announce the flood mitigation strategy's outcomes. However, Lambley said: “We haven't seen that report. There's no evidence that anything has been done to address flood mitigation in Alice Springs for a very long time.”
Infrastructure, Planning, and Logistics Minister Eva Lawler said the NT government will release an Alice Springs flood mitigation report in mid to late January, with a consultation period to follow.
“There is no simple solution to flooding in Alice Springs,” Lawler said, as reported by ABC. “The issue with Alice Springs, compared to Katherine, for example, is you have flash flooding in Alice Springs. Katherine has about 18 hours of warning before the floods come down the Katherine River.”
Lawler emphasised that Alice Springs was built on a large floodplain, adding: “We also understand the high cultural and environmental values that the Todd River has, so there will be a consultation that will come out around that.”
