Residents in flood prone areas of Victoria say they're dumbfounded by the state government's response to the inquiry into the 2022 floods. Only 16 of the 73 recommendations have been supported in full and no money was made available for residents who want to flood-proof their homes for the future.
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00:00in just the other air conditioning units on concrete slabs.
00:04John Roberts has spent a lot of time and money flood-proofing his Rochester home after it
00:09went under in the 2022 floods.
00:12Everything had to be ripped out, everything had to be gutted.
00:15But the state government has decided landholders, like John, will be personally left to foot
00:20the bill.
00:21The Victorian Parliamentary Flood Inquiry has recommended the state government pay to
00:25retrofit or raise homes in flood-prone areas, matching similar programs in New South Wales
00:31and Queensland.
00:33But the government's response to the inquiry was quietly posted on its website three weeks
00:37ago, and that recommendation was rejected.
00:40I'm just dumbfounded.
00:43Tracey Kine and other Rochester residents gave evidence to the inquiry, but none were
00:48told the findings had been published.
00:50It was almost shoved under a carpet, let's hope they don't see it, and we had to find
00:56that for ourselves.
00:58But even more galling were the contents of a letter from the Federal Emergency Management
01:02Minister, which said while more than a billion dollars in co-funding had been made available
01:07for flood recovery, the Victorian government had not applied to establish a resilient homes
01:12program.
01:13I find that really hard to swallow because we need that.
01:19The Premier won't reveal why the government didn't apply, saying help will be provided
01:24through better planning.
01:25Whether it's through designing new homes, looking at how we can build resilience.
01:30But the Natural Disaster Recovery Minister confirmed the government doesn't support public
01:34spending on private flood mitigation.
01:37So this is my lantern, come and focus.
01:38It's added to the pain felt by Madeline Searle, whose home in Melbourne's inner west is still
01:43a hollow shell.
01:45She says compared to Queensland and New South Wales, the Victorian response is pathetic.
01:50Victoria is just so behind, they're just prepared to let people just languish without any functional
01:58assistance.
02:00Those who lived through the floods want more to be done to future-proof the state.
02:04It's like we're going to throw all this money to help clean it up, which is great, but we're
02:09going to do nothing to help you prevent it and mitigate it in the future.
02:12It's just such a short-sighted view.