INQ210

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 Queensland Government should amend the Environmental Protection Act 1994 so as to permit an emergency direction to be given orally where it is not practicable to provide the direction in writing, with provision for its subsequent confirmation in writing

The Queensland Government should make public the procedural guide used by Department of Environment and Resource Management officers to decide whether to grant an emergency direction.

The Queensland Government should consider amending the Environmental Protection Act 1994 to provide a definition of the term ‘emergency’ for the purposes of section 468 of that Act.

The Queensland Government should make public the procedural guide used by Department of Environment and Resource Management officers to decide whether to grant a transitional environmental program.

The Queensland Government should prepare a procedural guide for officers deciding whether to grant a relaxation of environmental authority conditions, by transitional environmental program or otherwise, with guidance as to: • the meaning of each criterion • examples of the types of things that ma

The Queensland Government should consider amending the Environmental Protection Act 1994 so that it allows for the relaxation of environmental authority conditions, by transitional environmental program or otherwise, as to discharge of water: • pre-emptively, in advance of rainfall or flooding ev

The Queensland Government should refine the criteria which must be considered in assessment of applications for relaxation of environmental authority conditions, by transitional environmental program or otherwise, in response to flood.

The Queensland Government should legislate to clarify the purposes for which a transitional environmental program can be granted.

Unless the Department of Environment and Resource Management has decided not to permit discharges, it should assist each mine operator in its application for an environmental authority to ensure, as far as possible, that each authority includes provisions for discharges during times of heavy rain

The Queensland Government should determine which of its agencies should take responsibility for the management of all existing and new abandoned mine sites in Queensland.

The Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation should assemble all information currently available to the abandoned mine land program into a single database.

Emergency Management Queensland, in consultation with councils, should develop clear directives about: • the communication and reporting that should take place between the SES and disaster managers, including in relation to task allocation and completion, once disaster management groups have been

Emergency Management Queensland should ensure its staff, SES members and disaster managers are familiar with the directive when it is developed.

Emergency Management Queensland, in consultation with councils, should develop a directive that makes clear the authority of an officer of that agency to command a major SES operation.

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 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 fire service should ensure that station officers are familiar with the procedure for contacting management when requesting the calling in of additional staff; and, in particular, that they have available to them the names and current telephone numbers of the officers to be contacted in the fi

Councils should consider making available to business owners locality specific information that would assist them to develop evacuation plans for commercial premises, for example, any evacuation sub-plan created under Emergency Management Queensland’s disaster evacuation guidelines.

Councils should support and encourage business owners to develop private flood evacuation plans by providing the following to business owners in areas known to be affected by flood: • information about the benefits of evacuation plans • contact details of relevant council and emergency service pe

The Queensland Government should seek information about the size, features and condition of abandoned mines, including whether the mine or its surrounding environment were adversely affected by flood, from private landholders who have abandoned mines on their properties.

The Department of Environment and Resource Management should assist mine operators in their applications for amended environmental authorities to ensure, as far as possible, that each environmental authority contains a tailored version of Table 4 of the model conditions.

The Queensland Government should determine, as far as possible, the impact of mine discharges during the 2010/2011 wet season on freshwater and marine water quality and fauna and flora.

Queensland Rail and QR National should continue to investigate opportunities for increasing the flood resilience of their networks, including raising the height of critical equipment.

Carriers, councils and the Australian Communications and Media Authority should take into account the risk of flooding when considering the placement of telecommunications facilities.

The Queensland Government should consider implementing mandatory requirements to ensure that all conduits for the purpose of providing electrical supply below the applicable defined flood level are sealed to prevent floodwaters from entering them or flowing into them.

The Queensland Government should consider whether there should be a legislative requirement that customer dedicated assets be built at or above the applicable defined flood level and if so, the Queensland Government should consider which legislation should contain such a requirement.

Electricity distributors should consider installing connection points for generators to provide electricity supply to non-flooded areas that have had their supply cut during floods.

The Queensland Government should consider measures to ensure that requirements are included in the designation of land for community infrastructure under the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 to ensure that critical infrastructure for operating works under the Electricity Act is built to remain opera

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 critical infrastructure in assessable substation developments is built to remain operational during and i

The Queensland Government should draft assessment criteria to be included in the model flood planning controls that require critical infrastructure in assessable substation developments is built to remain operational during and immediately after a flood of a particular magnitude.

Councils should conduct education campaigns directed to ensuring that all residents and property owners in areas identified as being at risk of backflow flooding are aware of the circumstances in which backflow flooding can occur, the hazard it presents and what should be done if it occurs.

Councils should consider implementing a property buy-back program in areas that are particularly vulnerable to regular flooding, as part of a broader floodplain management strategy, where possible obtaining funding from the Natural Disaster Resilience Program for this purpose.

When a policy-holder makes a claim, the insurer should ascertain the policy-holder’s preferred method of contact and ensure that it is used (with other modes of communication if necessary) to keep the policyholder informed about the progress of the claim.

The Queensland Government should work collaboratively with the Commonwealth Government and mine operators to ensure co-ordinated and effective monitoring of salts, metals and other contaminants in marine environments that may be affected by mine discharges.

The Department of Environment and Resource Management should conduct risk assessments in time for site inspections, and the implementation of solutions to problems identified at inspections, to take place before 1 November of each year.

The Department of Environment and Resource Management should prepare a list of relevant considerations to be taken into account in performing a risk assessment to decide which sites to inspect. Bureau of Meteorology forecasts should be one consideration.

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.

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

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

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.

Letters notifying policy-holders that their claims have been denied should, at a minimum, state the information upon which the insurer has relied in making the decision.

Insurers should review their existing systems and processes and implement any improvements necessary to ensure that accurate and complete records of conversations with policy-holders are made.

All councils should periodically conduct risk assessments to identify areas at risk of backflow flooding. In respect of such areas, councils should consider how such risks can be lessened, including in that process consideration of the installation of backflow prevention devices.

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.

Seqwater should ensure that the Somerset Dam gallery is not susceptible to flooding during overtopping events.

Seqwater should consider commissioning an investigation into the extent of cracking below the level of the upper gallery of Somerset Dam and the impact of any such cracking on the dam’s stability and, in turn, its operation.

The Queensland Government should consider whether to empower Seqwater, through the flood operations centre, to direct CS Energy to stop or delay releases from Splityard Creek Dam where a flood event is declared under the Manual of Operational Procedures for Flood Mitigation at Wivenhoe Dam and So

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.

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.