The federal government will spend $236 million over the next decade to set up a national flood warning network, in an effort to safeguard communities against natural disasters.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said the funding would be used to purchase and upgrade flood gauges in disaster-prone areas.
"For almost a decade, experts have been telling us that we have to upgrade Australia's flood warning infrastructure," she said.
"We've seen really terrifying examples in recent years where communities were left with not enough information; they were unprepared during floods because of broken or outdated flood gauges."
Ms Plibersek said the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) owned about a third of Australia's flood gauges, but the rest were operated by state or local governments or private entities.
"Many of them are old, they have to be read manually, so you're sending people out into dangerous weather to read flood gauges," she said.
Starting in Queensland, the country's most disaster-affected state, flood gauges will be modernised and brought under BOM's control.
"What it will mean is that communities will get more notice [and] they can take the necessary steps to protect themselves, protect their homes, protect their communities," Ms Plibersek said.
Failing equipment not detected until it's too late
The funding announcement has been welcomed by parts of Queensland hit hard by flood emergencies in recent years.
In 2019, water that fell in the Flinders River at Julia Creek and Richmond in north-west Queensland flowed north into the Gulf of Carpentaria.
A lack of weather data across the region meant farmers were caught unprepared and, as result, suffered the loss of hundreds of thousands of cattle.
The catastrophic effects saw dozens of new weather gauges installed to provide more accurate data to communities on the north-flowing river catchments.
Carpentaria Shire Council Mayor Jack Bawden said the upkeep was proving too much to manage for local councils.
"We've got about 33 new gauges in the Carpentaria that we have to maintain and it is a big drain on resources," he said.
"Towards the end of the year when the wet season starts up, there's a mad rush to try and get the gauges sorted.
"They sit there unused for 12 months and then when they're needed to come online, batteries have failed and solar panels aren't working and it's not picked up until it's too late because you can't get to them anyway."
He said BOM was better placed to manage the important gauges.
"It's a big region – we're pretty much the size of Tasmania," Cr Bawden said.
"[The gauges] are extremely important because of the nature of the river systems out here. We need to be able to see where exactly the rain has fallen, not just the river heights."
Call for upgrades
In northern New South Wales, locals are calling for the flood-warning system to be prioritised in an area that endured two major floods in 2022.
Richard Trevan, from the Lismore Citizens Flood Review group, said funding opportunities could not be overlooked.
"It is a critical issue for our community," he said.
"Lismore had around 50 rain and river gauges that didn't work in the 2022 floods, so you are talking about life and death.
"There are communities in our catchment that have no gauges at all."
Mr Trevan said the City of Lismore was located at the intersection of two rivers, which put it at severe flood risk.
"In Lismore is we only have nine hours to pack up, so early warning is critical — and when it fails we have devastation to our community," he said.
Lismore MP Janelle Saffin said her electorate should be at the front of the queue for improved warning systems.
"One of the big findings of the O'Kane-Fuller report on the flood that we had was that no-one knew who was responsible for gauges, there was inconsistency, some didn't work, some got swamped," she said.
"Queensland, we get it, you know they're close by, they get smashed, but what happened to us was Australia's biggest disaster, the most costly and the damage continues ... so we need them."
Gauges working for next La Niña cycle, says BOM
Local Government Association of Queensland president Alison Smith said councils had been calling for the funding for years.
"This is a matter of saving lives," she said.
"It is this network that stands between a community and rising floodwaters."
Bureau of Meteorology chief executive Andrew Johnson said work on the upgrades would begin in July.
"I have every confidence that next time we're back in a La Niña cycle, we'll be much better prepared than what we have been in years past," he said.
