Over the past few weeks we have been sharing the findings from our 2022 Floods – What we heard report. On their own, the key findings are not a surprise; a second river crossing, and more secure and reliable energy are ‘no brainers’ for a regional economy that straddles Victoria’s largest river and is dominated by health and care services, logistics and food manufacturing.
Keeping the lights on, the roads open and our phone and internet working is vital to our community — and to the rest of the nation, which expects its local supermarket shelves to be stocked with everything we grow, manufacture and move, from White King to Pink Ladies.
We were also not surprised to hear members confirm the critical importance of the flood modelling and mapping produced by our Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority. The Goulburn River flood plain is 20 times the Maribyrnong River’s and 10 times the size of the Yarra River’s, so it’s an incredible achievement to have flood mapping that accurately predicted water levels across such a large area.
We were not surprised by the frustration and disruption caused by the loss of power supply, but we were reminded of the magnitude of what’s required to provide a temporary fix. Anyone have a spare 30 industrial-size generators to keep one manufacturing site operating?
So much of the renewable energy conversation has focused on planning the transition for the energy-generating regional cities — this focus needs to extend to energy-dependent regional centres such as Greater Shepparton, which is home to almost a fifth of regional Victoria’s manufacturing, and critical health services.
We were not surprised by the acknowledgement that once again Greater Shepparton’s community, businesses and leaders stepped up to the challenge. But we also captured a sense of confusion, with many wondering whether they required authorisation or official approval to act, and others keen to see greater use of local capabilities.
It’s been interesting to line up this appetite and capacity that Greater Shepparton demonstrates every time we face a disaster, with the expectations that are increasingly shifting to communities. For example, the State Emergency Management Plan includes expectations community members can be self-sufficient for a defined period (for example, up to 72 hours) after an emergency event, and they inform themselves of the emergency risks in their new neighbourhood. The plan also touches on expectations of individuals, households, community groups and for business with their responsibilities to customers and employees.
The Australia Disaster Resilience Index lists our social character, community capital and social and community engagement as our disaster resilience strengths.
So the real surprise emerging from our round-tables is how well our local appetite and capacity aligns with the emerging emergency management expectations for community, business and individuals. There may be challenges with increased community involvement within the overall framework but there was widespread interest in exploring what this approach could look like in and for Greater Shepparton — to improve our local response, to improve local understanding of emergency management, and where appropriate to release non-local resources to support other regions that do not have the same professional skills and agencies to call on.
The Victorian budget announced last week gave a good indication of the cost of the floods: $2.7 billion across the state and counting. This number cannot capture the full scale of resources contributed by local industry, community and agencies.
And this is where we can often overlook our local strengths. Given Greater Shepparton’s response to events, and the examples shared by members, it’s obvious we aren’t Sleeping Beauty, asleep while we wait for our prince to arrive and save us. Converting our enthusiasm, ideas and experiences to practical actions is the key next step that we are looking forward to being part of.
C4GS is hosting a member event to discuss the report and next steps on Wednesday, May 31 at La Trobe University, Shepparton. Bookings via Eventbrite.
— Linda Nieuwenhuizen is the chief executive of the Committee for Greater Shepparton