Victorian floods 2022

The Malinauskas government will embark on a six week campaign to ensure River Murray communities are afforded the best possible protection from flood waters heading to South Australia. Latest modelling by the Department of Environment and Water is predicting flows of up to 120 gigalitres per day by early December – the highest flows since the 1970s.

Over my life I have come to the conclusion there are two type of people: the “could have, should have, would haves”, and the helpers. The “could have, should have, would haves” are the majority. They would have handled things differently, ie, “you should have done things differently and then you could have not been in the trouble you are in”. They were out in force this week when television stations showed the frantic efforts to save broodmares in the Goulburn Valley floods.

The small community of Undera in northern Victoria is pulling together during the floods. It has been reported to Australian Rural & Regional News that, as at 18 October 2022, it had had no assistance from council, the ADF or any authorities with sandbags, levees or with fighting the flood ... It is concerning that this dire situation may be being repeated across a wide area of rural and regional Victoria.

The Commonwealth and Victorian governments have come together to prepare the Centre for National Resilience at Mickleham to provide crisis accommodation for Victorians affected by widespread flooding. From Tuesday, 250 beds at the Mickleham facility will open to help people whose homes have been inundated.

Back in 2019, Do Nothing on Dams Dan Andrews, in answer to a direct and simple question put to him by ABC Radio about why his government was committed to doing nothing on dams, provided one of his usual glib responses: “Well dams don’t make it rain.”