AN AGREEMENT between Loddon Shire and the Dja Dja Wurrung Corporation to build a flood levee bank on the outskirts of Boort is about to be sealed.
The flood mitigation project has been bogged down for more than four years. 
Talks on a small strip of land beside Lake Boort and the compensation Loddon Shire Council will pay DJARRA to use the land have stymied stage two of flood mitigation works. 
The roadblock to completion of $500,000 mitigation works funded by a 2016-2017 grant meant a bill in the tens of thousands of dollars to protect the town during the October 2022 flood emergency and hundreds of volunteer hours manning pumps and safeguarding homes.
Shire operations director Steve Phillips said on Monday: “Yes, negotiations have progressed. The agreement is being drafted by solicitors. There has been some delays due to availability of council staff, this is due to the level of attention required for the flood restoration program.”
Mr Phillips said  no fees had yet been paid to DJAARA and the levee bank would proceed as planned.
In December 2022, DJAARA CEO Rodney Carter said: “Agreement has not yet been reached about the community benefit payable by law for the effect on traditional owners’ rights through the construction of the levee. 
“The High Court of Australia’s Timber Creek decision provided some clarity about the calculation of compensation but uncertainty remains about numerous aspects of community benefit calculation. 
“The State of Victoria unfortunately has not yet settled its position on the effect of the Timber Creek decision on benefits payable under the Land Use Activity Agreement which is part of the suite of agreements which make up the pioneering Recognition and Settlement Agreement between the State and Dja Dja Wurrung Clans in 2013.”
Cr Neil Beattie had earlier told councillors the town could not risk a future flood and said: “A permanent bank will give protection for the town forever.
“A lot of towns have levee banks but we just can’t seem to get ours across the line,” he said.