The Ministers for Emergency Services, Environment and Police provide additional funds in the 2013-14 Budget so that the State’s emergency response agencies can implement a Psychological First Aid approach to preparing staff to deal with critical incidents and disasters, as is used in other Austra

Housing should ensure it has sound systems, processes and controls in place that minimise the opportunity for fraud and gives it the best chance of detecting it by:

Housing should further develop its Head Contractor key performance indicators to include quality, cost and tenant satisfaction. Currently performance reporting is focused entirely on timeliness indicators.

Housing should use risk based analysis of its tenant and property information, job order data and quality assurance results to better inform target setting for KPIs, job order controls, and the sampling used for completed work inspections before and after payment.

The state government implement the Victorian Floods Review recommendation 10 in relation to the datums used to describe river and stream heights.

A revised Victoria Flood Management Strategy is needed and should clearly articulate the principles, roles and responsibilities for the ownership, management and ongoing maintenance of Victoria’s levees.

Local knowledge on the management and ongoing maintenance of waterways, including vegetation clearing and debris removal, needs to be incorporated in the development of regional flood mitigation strategies and local flood plans. Specifically:

Flood studies will be undertaken to determine the flood extent on the basis of a greater than 1 in 100 ARI, where appropriate:
• The Water Act 1989 to be amended.

The state government should implement the recommendations of the Victorian Floods Review in relation to the creation of resilience committees and resilience plans, with responsible authorities.

A revised Victoria Flood Management Strategy should identify and assign roles and responsibilities for the management and ongoing maintenance of Victoria’s waterways, for the purposes of flood protection and flood mitigation:

The revised Victoria Flood Management Strategy should provide a strategic framework for the management and ongoing maintenance of Victoria’s levees.

The state government establish a well coordinated and formalised system for the reading of river gauges by local people, including flood wardens.

All priority public levees not currently the subject of approved schemes, will become subject to approved schemes under Division 5, Part 10 of the Water Act 1989. Such schemes will articulate an agreed set of terms, including:

Public authorities such as councils and CMAs should continue to seek local knowledge in relation to flood management issues. In particular, councils will collaborate with VICSES and other key stakeholders in reviewing the system of flood wardens.

The state government implement the Victorian Floods Review recommendation 8, to review the flood gauging network.

Where a levee has been identified as low priority, and beneficiaries are not willing to contribute to its maintenance, public authorities will inform levee beneficiaries that they will not fund the repair of their levee following a flood event.

Responsible authorities will identify low priority levees for potential removal, and have them removed when funding becomes available.

Streamlined processes to enable access to levees for the purposes of conducting works, including maintenance, must be implemented.

The Department of Sustainability and Environment will develop guidelines for streamlining the permitting system for conducting works on levees for incorporation in the revised Victoria Flood Management Strategy, in order for maintenance on all levees to occur more quickly.

A regular inspection and maintenance regime will be undertaken for all high priority levees managed by a public authority. All such levees will be inspected by the relevant public authority on an annual basis, and after a flood event. All levees will have a regular maintenance schedule.

The Department of Sustainability and Environment will develop guidelines for the management of levees in emergencies, during and after a flood event, which can be incorporated into local flood response plans.

The current technical guidelines for the construction of levee systems will be reviewed.

The revised Victoria Flood Management Strategy should clearly articulate the policy guidelines for the management of vegetation and debris in Victorian waterways, for the purposes of flood protection and mitigation, taking into account the localised potential flooding effects of in‐stream vegetat

That the Department of Sustainability and Environment continue to invest in the auditing of Victoria’s levee systems, both public and private, so that the Victoria Flood Database contains reliable and up to date data, including information on levees’ location, height, condition and ongoing viabil

The Department of Sustainability and Environment to review ownership of Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water’s Yarriambiack Creek levee, with a view to the appointment of a more suitable public managing authority/authorities.

The Department of Sustainability and Environment should develop guidelines for streamlining the permitting system for works on waterways for incorporation in the revised Victoria Flood Management Strategy.

In consultation with local communities, local councils will develop flood response plans as subplans to their current Municipal Emergency Management Plans.

The state government will work with Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water and stakeholders to determine ongoing ownership and associated responsibilities for redundant channel infrastructure in the Wimmera and the Mallee.

Where flood investigations show positive and cost effective outcomes, infrastructure providers, such as VicRoads, will consider enhancing their infrastructure to act as levees.

The Department of Sustainability and Environment will develop a code of practice on the removal of vegetation around critical public assets, in consultation with councils, CMAs and asset managers.

When developing flood mitigation options in lowland areas, local governments should give consideration to the use of temporary levees as an alternative or addition to permanent structures.

The Victorian Government should work with the New South Wales Government and the Murray Darling Basin Authority to establish an appropriate floodplain management committee and to develop a floodplain management strategy for the Murray River.

Significant modification of waterways in urban or rural areas will only be considered after the completion of a flood risk management process, undertaken in consultation with members of the community.

The Department of Sustainability and Environment will develop clear policy for the coordinated management of rural drainage, clarifying the legal framework, and identifying authorities with responsibility for the management and ongoing maintenance of formal schemes, and their development:

The Victorian Government to implement the recommendations of the Victorian Floods Review in relation to the development and implementation of appropriate flood mitigation and protection strategies for essential services.

The revised Victoria Flood Management Strategy should clearly identify authorities and assign responsibilities for stream blockage and debris removal in waterways posing a high risk to public infrastructure both during and after a flood:

The state government give consideration to enacting legislation to provide protection from legal liability for public authorities conducting works on priority levees in good faith, acting reasonably and responsibly in the public interest, and in accordance with standards agreed to under approved

The funding model for works on levees and their ongoing maintenance be revised, to be primarily based on the beneficiary pays principle. The state government should give consideration to wholly funding, or contributing to, the initial upgrade of high priority levees to an agreed standard.

The role of flood risk management planning rests with CMAs and Melbourne Water (under the Water Act 1989), and is a shared responsibility with local government. Shared responsibilities for flood risk management planning and implementation will be consistently reflected in government policy.

That statements of obligations, issued under the Water Industry Act 1994 for water authorities, be amended to include a provision whereby managing authorities must:

The state government review the current funding approach used for the operation, maintenance and upgrade of river gauges, with a view to improving the river gauge network.

Within the jurisdiction of Melbourne Water, it shares with local councils the responsibility to manage local drainage systems as outlined under the Water Act 1989 and the Local Government Act 1989 respectively:

The state government should provide core, ongoing funding to the responsible authority for the FloodSafe community education program.

The state government accept recommendations 25 to 28, inclusive, of the Victorian Floods Review.

Efficient and effective supporting tools and processes: streamlining the authorisation processes for urgent warnings.

Management of community expectations: better understanding of what different groups within a community expect.

Agency incident management preparedness: provide clarity and certainty in specific roles and responsibilities for each agency.

Management of community expectations: continued community education.

Agency incident management preparedness: refining IT tools to process the intelligence.

Management of community expectations: further development of tools that would allow the community to more easily
access accurate and time-critical information.

Agency incident management preparedness: a more comprehensive approach to planning, including the number of personnel, their training and better use of on-the-ground intelligence in the affected areas that enables immediate and strategic decision-making to be concurrent processes.

Efficient and effective supporting tools and processes: high-quality local/municipal planning.

Efficient and effective supporting tools and processes: developing tools and workflows to quickly and reliably transform technical data into intelligence that can be used to construct messages for community information that are timely, relevant, tailored and effective.

Regulators can help to achieve improved outcomes by acknowledging that changes to legislation and the BPEM guidelines may be required to help address the identified issues

Fire services can improve outcomes by working with EPA as the regulator and licensing authority to achieve improved compliance with the required outcomes specified in the BPEM guidelines

Fire services can improve outcomes by using a pre-planned response to provide appropriate resources

Regulators can help to achieve improved outcomes by involving fire services in the planning and licensing processes

Fire services can improve outcomes by initiating discussions with landfill operators about fire management planning and emphasising the critical importance of water supplies and early intervention

Regulators can help to achieve improved outcomes by considering the issues identified by this review

Fire services can improve outcomes by developing a checklist for use by incident controllers

Fire services can improve outcomes by implementing standard procedures that ensure the welfare and safety of crews and the public are not compromised

Regulators can help to achieve improved outcomes by auditing compliance with the BPEM guidelines on a regular basis

Landfill operators must be encouraged to achieve greater compliance with the required outcomes relating to fire that are set out in the BPEM guidelines, particularly with regard to water supplies

Fire services can improve outcomes by seeking input to decisions about siting, design and fire water systems as part of the planning and licensing processes

Fire services can improve outcomes by implementing standard procedures that ensure the welfare and safety of crews and the public are not compromised

The Queensland Government and Commonwealth Government should ensure the existence and maintenance of a repository of data of the type used in flood studies. The database should include the types of data which the expert panel specified as needed for a comprehensive flood study.

If the Queensland Government does not include such assessment criteria in the model flood planning controls, councils should include assessment criteria in their planning schemes that require that: a.

The Queensland Government should consider whether North Pine Dam should be operated as a flood mitigation dam when it considers possible operating strategies and full supply levels as part of the longer term review of the Manual of Operational Procedures for Flood Mitigation at North Pine Dam.

The Queensland Government should consider amending the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 to require that consideration be given to the risk of flooding in the preparation or revision of a regional plan.

The Department of Environment and Resource Management should ensure that, when applications for a material change of use for an environmentally relevant activity are approved by the department, the details of those activities, including their nature and location, are provided to the council withi

Authorities responsible for the construction of sewerage infrastructure should, when embarking on new works, undertake risk and cost/benefit assessments to determine the level at which electrical infrastructure that may be vulnerable to inundation should be placed.

The Insurance Council of Australia should consider an amendment to Part 3 of the code which requires insurers to notify policy-holders of the information on which they relied in assessing claims.

Emergency Management Queensland should ensure its staff, SES members and disaster managers are familiar with the directives it develops in relation to these matters.

The Department of Environment and Resource Management should conduct periodic dam safety information and education sessions with emergency management personnel including those from Emergency Management Queensland, local and district disaster management groups and local councils.

CS Energy should review its emergency action plan and business procedures to ensure they are wholly consistent and give appropriate consideration to flooding as a possible emergency event.

Queensland Urban Utilities should make the results of its trials on the use of caps for overflow relief gully grates available to other authorities responsible for sewerage infrastructure.

When approving applications for development which involve the manufacture or storage of hazardous materials, councils should not restrict the conditions imposed to ones which are solely reliant on human intervention to remove the materials in the event of flood.

The Queensland Government should continue to assess and review the adequacy of work procedures DS 5.1 and 5.3, having regard to the need for flood mitigation manuals to reflect the will of the executive.

The Queensland Government should draft model flood planning controls, using a similar format and structure to that in the Queensland Planning Provisions, that councils can adapt for local conditions. The Queensland Government should require these controls to be reflected in new planning schemes.

The Queensland Government should draft assessment criteria to be included in the model flood planning controls that require that: a.

Authorities responsible for the management of sewerage infrastructure should conduct a review of their existing infrastructure to identify electrical infrastructure that may be vulnerable to inundation and perform risk and cost/benefit assessments to determine if it should be relocated to a highe

The Insurance Council of Australia should amend clause 3.4.3 of the General Insurance Code of Practice so that it requires insurers to inform policy-holders of their right to request a review of an insurer’s decision to refuse to provide access to information on which it relied in assessing claim

CS Energy should amend its business procedure to remove any ambiguity as to the establishment of communications with Seqwater and to acknowledge the formal communications protocol regarding releases.

Mine operators should obtain all public seasonal forecasts issued by the Bureau of Meteorology relevant to the regions in which their operations are located.

Councils (particularly Brisbane City Council) should consider including in their planning schemes more stringent standards for the design and construction of prescribed tidal work than those in the code for development applications for prescribed tidal work in the Coastal Protection and Managemen

The Queensland Government should endeavour to ensure that Queensland conditions are appropriately considered in the National Flood Risk Advisory Group’s review of best practice principles.

Prior to approving a flood mitigation manual, the Queensland Government should be satisfied that its terms are expressed in a manner that allows a determination of compliance with it to be made by reference to objective standards.

The Queensland Government should include in the model flood planning controls a requirement that councils have a flood overlay map in their planning schemes.

The Queensland Government should review the code for development applications for prescribed tidal work in the Coastal Protection and Management Regulation 2003 to consider whether the design and construction standards should be made more stringent than the existing standards.

The Department of Environment and Resource Management should review the Queensland Urban Drainage Manual to determine whether it requires updating or improvement, in particular, to reflect the current law and to take into account insights gained from the 2010/2011 floods.

The Disaster Management Act 2003 should be amended to give the chief executive of the department administering the Act (or his or her delegate) the authority to appoint an officer of Emergency Management Queensland to direct SES operations in extraordinary circumstances

The Crime and Misconduct Commission should investigate whether the conduct of Mr Tibaldi, Mr Ayre and Mr Malone relating to: • preparation of documents surrounding the January 2011 flood event, including the 17 January 2011 brief to the Minister, the 2 March 2011 flood event report, and statement

The Queensland Government should legislate to oblige each owner of a referable dam to have an emergency action plan approved by the appropriate Queensland Government agency. Such plans should be reviewed periodically

Any mine operator of a site at high risk of flood should obtain the best forecast information available (seasonal and short term) for the region in which the mine is located.

If the Queensland Government does not include such assessment criteria in the model flood planning controls, councils should consider including assessment criteria in their planning schemes which require that works in a floodplain: • do not reduce on-site flood storage capacity • counteract any c

In the event that the review does not adequately account for Queensland conditions, the Queensland Government should produce a document that provides appropriate guidelines for floodplain management in the Queensland context.

The Department of Environment and Resource Management should prepare formal work procedures for the review of flood event reports created under emergency action plans and flood mitigation manuals.

The Queensland Fire and Rescue Service should require that each region records in writing the results of its risk assessment undertaken as part of its annual review of its special operations functional plan.

The Queensland Government should include in the model flood planning controls a model flood overlay code that consolidates assessment criteria relating to flood.

The Queensland Government should consider drafting assessment criteria to be included in the model flood planning controls which require that works in a floodplain: • do not reduce on-site flood storage capacity • counteract any changes the works will cause to flood behaviour of all floods up to