Cassandra Hough: Now, as I said, I'm in Murray Bridge now. Two and a half years ago I was making a lot of trips to this part of the world, making my way down the highway because this was one of the major centres that was affected by flooding in the 2022, 2023 floods. We saw some breaching of levees here and some flood waters going over the top of the levees as well. So, this area has seen its fair share of natural disasters and it's Brendan Moon's job as the coordinator of the National Emergency Management to be across these sorts of things. He joins me now. Good afternoon.
Brendan Moon: Good afternoon, Cassie.
Cassandra Hough: So, that 2022-23 flood must have been quite a busy time for you.
Brendan Moon: It was a huge event not only for the Murray-Darling Basin, but for all of Australia that year and I remember standing on the banks of the Murray here with the mayor of Murray Bridge and looking at record breaking floods and then to realise two years after that we're also facing significant drought conditions in the same region and it's a story we're seeing reflected across Australia. Communities having to deal with floods one year, bushfires the next, and then followed up in quick succession by drought.
Cassandra Hough: Droughts and flooding rains. This river, we had rain here, but it was largely driven by rainfall further up the catchment in NSW, Victoria, et cetera, what we discovered in South Australia though, was that the levees had perhaps not been maintained or were not high enough to deal with the situation. You've probably got a much better sense of flooding in the 21st century and we haven't really seen floods like that for such a long time. What sort of work is being done along the river system now to deal with that?
Brendan Moon: So, that is a feature of the events we're facing and the challenge that not only Australia faces, but globally now is the events are becoming more intense and more frequent. They're breaking records year on year on year and I think an important element of how South Australia have dealt with floods, especially along this particular river system, is they do have a very, very effective levee system. Now obviously there have been some vulnerabilities exposed as a result of that event and we work very, very closely with the South Australian Government to make funding available to landowners and also to government to ensure that not only the reconstruction of those levees is fast tracked, but also they're more resilient into the future so that they can handle bigger and more frequent events as well. So, there's a really focused part of our work is on ensuring that the safety net that enables people to get out and make those repairs is available quickly after the event and now state governments, local landowners are in the process of rebuilding after that event, but we recognise it will take years.
Cassandra Hough: And are there any particular areas that were really exposed in that flooding that there really needs to be quite drastic work done?
Brendan Moon: I think if you look from the top of the system up in South Western Queensland, southern Queensland, all the way through to here, to the opening of the Murray into the ocean, it exposed vulnerabilities within our community. And that's what we're seeing with these events, Cassie, is they become more intense, they're testing previous records and they're testing community preparedness. And that's why I'm here today, is to have a conversation with the Murray-Darling Basin communities about how we are preparing for the next season.
Cassandra Hough: And we know that in most cases it was flood water going over the top of the levee rather than the levees actually breaching. But is there new technology to perhaps be more adaptable and is there a more ideal height? Because we know that levees can affect the way the river operates quite a lot as well.
Brendan Moon: Well, I'll use Lismore as an example. And right now there has been a wonderful flood warning study done as a result of that particular event, because waters had overtopped the levee within that particular particular town and that's generated and triggered enormous investment in additional mitigation infrastructure. So, pumps, but also understanding what are the next steps in terms of how they mitigate flood risk into the future. Does it require additional levees or does it require just a lifting of the levee heights? And they're important conversations with the community to understand what their priorities are, because lifting a levee in one particular location will impact flood behaviour downstream and also the environment downstream. So, they're really important conversations that are going on and that's why this event here is so important, because you're hearing from all the different communities about the importance of the plan here for the Murray-Darling Basin. Importantly, a component of that is how we manage flood risk into the future.
Cassandra Hough: And it's a push pull situation, really, where they want to get water to the floodplains, but you don't want to be affecting people's homes, livelihoods, et cetera. So, you've got two things basically working against each other in essence.
Brendan Moon: You do, but that's why when we talk flood risk management, we use a suite of options. It's not just about a structural mitigation option and building up a levee, it can be more resilient road infrastructure, we can lift the heights of roads, we can improve drainage structures. So, whilst they may get flooded initially, they recover very, very quickly after the event. And we don't have that loss in economic activity because we've got to rebuild a road. So, it's about having a portfolio of projects to actually mitigate flood risk.
Cassandra Hough: And how does this Murray Basin plan review play into the work you're doing? What do you get out of it?
Brendan Moon: Well, importantly, it's a preparedness. It's important to inform how we prepare for flooding into the future and this is really sort of what we are very much focused on as the National Emergency Management Agency is more prepared communities, recognising, they're quite diverse across the nation. Different communities, different exposure to risk and our message very, very clearly is we will, in the next six weeks, we will get a seasonal outlook for the rest of the country delivered by the Bureau of Meteorology. We'll get an understanding of what bushfire risk is. And that will send a clear message to communities, to emergency management agencies, to the private sector, supermarkets, power providers of how we need to prepare for the next season. And that's really our focus area over the next six weeks.
Cassandra Hough: Well, thank you so much for joining me today and enjoy the rest of the conference.
Brendan Moon: Thanks, Cassie.
Cassandra Hough: That was Brendan Moon, the Coordinator-General of the National Emergency Management Agency.
