Politics & Council
24 March, 2024
Council group makes flood recovery framework change its top priority
BETTER frameworks for disaster recovery funding have been made a priority by Murray River Group of Councils. The six-member local government collective says it will take its case to bureaucrats in Melbourne and Canberra. The group includes Loddon...
BETTER frameworks for disaster recovery funding have been made a priority by Murray River Group of Councils.
The six-member local government collective says it will take its case to bureaucrats in Melbourne and Canberra.
The group includes Loddon Shire that last month called out four layers of red tape for delaying approvals of recovery work from the October 2022 flood emergency.
“Sixteen months on from historic flooding across our region, we are still battling to receive promised funding to repair our roads and complete other vital works,” said the group’s new president and Gannawarra Mayor Ross Stanton after councils met for the first time in 2024 in Kerang this month.
“The group will keep making our case to ministers and senior bureaucrats in Canberra and Melbourne whilst we get on with the job as best as we can.
“We agreed that we would renew our efforts to engage as a group with the relevant ministers and bureaucrats ... to get on and complete the repairs our communities require.
“Whilst we’re still working with our communities as we recover from these flood events, we need to be aware that planning now for the next flood event will strengthen our residents’ resilience.”
Loddon Shire has not had any flood recovery work approvals since last October.
Operations director Steve Phillips last month said council would be challenged to have all projects completed by the June 2025 deadline with more than 900 jobs to to get the bureaucratic tick.