The head of Victoria Racing Club says a flood wall it erected around Melbourne’s Flemington racecourse “served its purpose” after the site was left undamaged during last October’s flooding that left nearby homes inundated.
Victoria Racing Club and Melbourne Water fronted a parliamentary inquiry on Wednesday into last October’s floods, after a report – commissioned by the water authority – into the Maribyrnong flooding that affected more than 500 homes was handed down on Friday. The review concluded it was unclear whether the flood wall had exacerbated flooding for residents, saying the available material did not allow a conclusion to be made.
Steve Rosich, the chief executive of VRC, refused to be drawn on whether there were any adverse consequences arising from the construction of the wall, which was built in 2007, for surrounding suburbs.
“Given my expertise, that’s for others to determine, other than the wall served its purpose and so we’ll leave that to others,” he said. “We were able to conduct the [spring racing] carnival as planned. The 600 horses that were housed onsite were safe.”
Last year, the chief executive of the state authority for the sport, Racing Victoria, said the flood wall had “unintended consequences for neighbouring residents”.
Nerina Di Lorenzo, managing director of Melbourne Water, pointed to the recent review’s finding that mitigating works that were put in place for the wall to offset its impacts “appeared to have functioned”.
“We also recognise what a significant issue this historical decision is for communities,” she told the inquiry.
Di Lorenzo said Melbourne Water would re-assess the impact of the wall after April next year when modelling work it has commissioned as part of the investigation is completed.
But Geoff Crapper, a hydrologist who worked at Melbourne Water for 30 years until 2003, told the inquiry the assessment needed to be done by independent experts.
The planning permit for the racecourse flood wall was approved by the Bracks government in 2004. This was despite opposition from surrounding councils – the City of Melbourne, Maribyrnong and Moonee Valley – who warned it would exacerbate flooding of nearby homes.
Melbourne Water did not object to the proposal at the time.
Representatives from the three councils affected by the Maribyrnong river flooding also appeared before the inquiry.
Sarah Carter, the mayor of Maribyrnong city council, said it remained unclear if the flood wall contributed to the extent of the floods.
“That is the single greatest point of frustration for flood-affected residents,” she said. “There are still so many questions that are unanswered and it’s all the unknowns that compound the fear going forward.”
The councils also detailed outdated emergency warnings and said the alert system needed to be improved to boost safety.
Pierce Tyson, the mayor of Moonee Valley council, criticised Melbourne Water’s downgrading of an emergency warning from severe to moderate on the day of the 14 October floods, saying it was dangerous.
Tyson told the inquiry the warning systems did not work during the event and stressed there was a significant burden on councils and “already drained and under-resourced local emergency services” to door-knock residents.
He pointed to air raid sirens as an alternative for warning alerts.
Kirsten Tanner, the coordinator of emergency management at Maribyrnong city council, said state government-issued warnings were river catchment-based and did not take in the nuance of varied geographical risk factors.
“There would need to be specific advice for people who live riverfront compared to a few streets up the hill,” she said.
