The Australian Government is investing $594,000 into flood mitigation works at Ballin Park in Centenary Heights to assist the area to better withstand future flood events, under Round 2 of the National Flood Mitigation Infrastructure Program.
Member for Groom Garth Hamilton said the Program is preparing and protecting Australian communities like Toowoomba from future devastating flood events.
“The recent floods along Australia’s eastern seaboard have once again demonstrated the devastation that can be wrought by major floods in this country,” Mr Hamilton said.
“We are continuing to make significant investments to protect Toowoomba Region communities, individuals and businesses from disasters in an increasingly complex natural hazard environment.
“Funded Round 2 projects include the replacement of two existing chutes structures within the East Creek corridor of Gowrie Creek, through Ballin Park.
“This project being announced today is in addition to the 22 projects announced in May 2021 under Round 1 of the Program.
“The Australian Government has now committed a total of $100 million to flood mitigation infrastructure – that is 37 unique projects – to build our resilience to future floods.
A Technical Advisory Panel comprised of experts from CSIRO, the Bureau of Meteorology and the Australian Climate Service conducted a technical review of applications against the criteria of the relative flood risk and flood mitigation impact of the project and the impact of the project on reducing exposure to flood risks that influence insurability of existing flood mitigation infrastructure.
Following this review, the Program Review Panel comprised of representatives from the Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment, Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications, the Bureau of Meteorology, and the National Recovery and Resilience Agency (Chair) assessed, rated and ranked programs against the Program Guidelines and Assessment Criteria.
Eligible projects were then endorsed by the Coordinator-General of the National Recovery and Resilience Agency.
“We are continuing to invest wisely in the long-term resilience of our country to mitigate against future disasters.
“This funding is made possible through the Government’s $4 billion Emergency Response Fund, established in December 2019. Under the legislation, a $50 million is available each year to assist communities to build resilience and prepare for natural disasters.”
This National Flood Mitigation Infrastructure Program funding is in addition to the $150 million from the Emergency Response Fund announced last week to support further recovery and post-disaster resilience activities in flood-affected areas in NSW and Queensland
For further information on the National Flood Mitigation Infrastructure Program visit https://recovery.gov.au/national-flood-mitigation-infrastructure-program-21-22
