Opinions were divided among key figures in Rochester’s flood recovery as they left the highly emotional flood inquiry hearing last week wondering whether the words delivered to the Victorian Legislative Council members would have any impact on future mitigation measures.
A shire hall filled with teary-eyed flood victims heard the heartbreaking stories of home owners, business operators, farmers and emergency service personnel, all of whom shared the same goal of having flood prevention initiatives legislated to ensure there was no repeat of the events of October 2022.
The room appeared split in two, many in the audience feeling heard by the eight members of the Legislative Council Environment and Planning Standing Committee that sat at the front of the room, while the other half left thinking the lengthy proceedings would have no influence at all on the actions of the Victorian Government.
Rochester Community House manager Amanda Logie, who has been at the pointy end of the community’s recovery effort from the very first day people started wading through thick brown water to access their homes and businesses, said she had felt heard.
“It felt to me as though everyone in the room left with a bit of hope and believed changes would occur as a result,” Ms Logie said.
“It felt like an acknowledgement that this community couldn’t go through this again.
“A lot of people let go yesterday and it felt like a positive step for the community.”
However, new Rochester Business Network president Tracie Kyne, who conducted the gut-wrenching funeral of widely-respected community identity Kevin Wills after he died defending his home in the flood, held the polar opposite view.
She lost her shopfront and house in the flood, is living at her parents’ home and had been dealing with grieving families every day since floodwaters engulfed her home town.
“I’ve turned into a bitter person in regard to dealing with government,” Ms Kyne said.
“I didn’t feel like we were heard and haven’t done since I left a meeting with (Water Minister) Harriet Shing earlier this year.
“Her words that Rochester lived on a floodplain and needed to be more resilient will stay with me. I think the hearing was more lip service than anything else.”
One thing everyone agreed on was there would continue to be push back from the community until something was done in regards to Lake Eppalock.
It remains the one major focus of the community, the first of several measures the Rochester mitigation committee hopes will ease the tension in the still fragile town.