Anthony Albanese and the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, say a re-think of disaster recovery and flood mitigation may be needed due to climate change, with at least 26 homes inundated in the state’s flooding.
Across Victoria, 61 emergency warnings remained in place on Tuesday afternoon as Mooroopna and Shepparton, in the state’s north, brace for high and moderate flooding in the coming days.
Speaking about flooding in Victoria and in Queensland, the prime minister flagged that the government had considered a new reserve force to assist with the aftermath of natural disasters. But he said the Australian defence force was a vital asset to respond to them.
“When you have a natural disaster, you have to be flexible enough to use whatever assets are at your disposal,” he said in an ABC Brisbane interview on Tuesday.
“That is certainly something that the Australian defence force has been able to do. They’ve been able to do it over a considerable period of time when that request is asked for.”
Albanese said that “tragically in this beautiful country of ours, natural disasters are becoming more frequent and more intense”.
“All of this is a reminder that the science told us that climate change would mean there would be more extreme weather events and they would be more intense,” he told reporters.
“Unfortunately we are seeing that play out with the number of events that we’re having to deal with right around Australia, where over this period we’ve had events in Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia that have been severe events.”
Allan, who visited flood-hit Seymour on Tuesday, told the ABC that climate change had resulted in more frequent flooding and extreme weather, underscoring the need to transition to renewable energy.
“Growing up in this part of the world, these summer storm events … were not a common experience, and it is troubling that it is becoming more common,” she said.
She said the climate change-driven flooding and extreme weather events meant the state would need to consider the best locations for new housing.
“What used to be a one-in-100-year event for communities like Rochester, they’ve now had three big flooding events in 10, 11 years,” she said.
Speaking to reporters later in Seymour, she said the state government would push the commonwealth to provide financial support for Victoria’s flood-impacted communities.
“Victorians can absolutely expect that we will push the federal government for a fair share of funding for affected communities,” she said.
She said the state’s emergency services minister, Jaclyn Symes, had been in discussions with the Albanese government over disaster funding before the Queensland package was announced.
Albanese visited the Gold Coast on Tuesday to announce further funding for parts of south-eastern and northern Queensland affected by flooding and cyclone Jasper, before travelling to Victoria on Wednesday.
About 50 ADF personnel were deployed to flood-hit south-east Queensland earlier this month to assist with the cleanup. Last year, the defence strategic review found climate change was increasing the demand on the ADF for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief talks at home and abroad.
A parliament inquiry is now investigating the role of the ADF in natural disaster recovery. In a submission, the Department of Defence proposed an internal force dedicated to national crisis response and recovery.
The federal emergency management minister, Murray Watt, also defended the Bureau of Meteorology over it’s declaration of El Niño before the recent heavy rainfalls.
“It is not at all unusual to see heavy rain in some parts of the country during an El Niño cycle,” Watt said. “And unfortunately, that’s what we’re seeing happening right now”.
