The Nationals Member for Murray Plains, Peter Walsh, is making implementation of the flood study covering the Campaspe at Rochester and Echuca his priority for 2025.
Mr Walsh says the floods happened in October 2022 and we are now in 2025 – and still waiting.
He says the consulting and bureaucracy has dragged on long enough and “it is time for some positive action and even more positive steps”.
“We are going over the same ground we did after the 2011 floods hit, we have gone through the disaster that was 2022, the scare we had in 2024, the Upper House flood inquiry which The Nationals drove, and we still have nothing concrete where it counts most – the people’s peace of mind,” Mr Walsh explains.
“Rochester disappeared under water, Echuca got cut in half by a massive levee bank, some properties are still fighting for insurance payouts, flood affected houses are still empty and as far as the people on the frontline are concerned, nothing has changed,” he says.
“Campaspe Shire is running the study, with technical guidance from a multi-partner project control group, and it says it won’t even start looking at possible mitigation options until April or May.
“Even the simplest hitch or hiccup will see that quickly blow out and suddenly we are three years from the floods and virtually everyone living downstream from Lake Eppalock will still be sleeping with one eye open and one eye permanently on the rainfall forecast.”
Mr Walsh says he understands the survey timetable is still running as consultants Price Merrett continue checking flood marks (estimated 60-80), floor levels (estimated 1900 buildings across the Campaspe River floodplain), and building structures (1520 buildings in Rochester alone).
He says you don’t have to be Einstein to work out the problem here – if Eppalock spills, the Campaspe floods and the next stops are Rochester, and then Echuca.
“Rochester and Elmore District Health Service reopened just before Christmas – two years after the last floods hit – and even now is not fully operational,” Mr Walsh adds.
“The hospital needs a levee bank and floodgates and none of that can happen until the flood study is completed and implemented,” he says.
“Who wants to look anyone downstream of Eppalock in the eyes if another flood hits while the wheels grind so slowly and explain it could not be helped because we were still surveying and consulting?
“It’s time for action and that’s what I will be pushing for.”
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The Nationals Member for Murray Plains, Peter Walsh, pictured at the Campaspe, says the 2022 flood study is entering its third year and that is too long.