‘At the mercy of Mother Nature’: Queensland bids for funds for disaster resilience

A plan to disaster-proof critical state infrastructure has been floated after a Brisbane electrical substation came within inches of being inundated during ex-tropical cyclone Alfred.

Premier David Crisafulli said the crisis at the Nudgee substation was averted by quick thinking from staff from RoadTek, Energex, the SES, and the council, but highlighted the need for new investment.

The workers constructed makeshift sandbags out of fertiliser bags, dumped them in the creek, and created a temporary levee that stopped the water, he said, avoiding “absolute chaos”.

Energex crews working in the wake of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred.Credit: Energex

“We can’t have key infrastructure completely at the mercy of Mother Nature,” Crisafulli told reporters on Monday morning.

“We have to make sure that something good comes out of the misery of a cyclone at one end of the state and a flood at the other, and that good is in the form of more resilient infrastructure.

“Whether it’s schools, health systems, power supply, bridges, roads, we have to make sure we build resilience into that.”

Half-a-million properties in south-east Queensland lost power during the storm, according to the latest Energex figures, making it the worst outage in the state’s history.

Hundreds of thousands lost access to the NBN, and phone reception was down across large swathes of the Gold Coast and Brisbane, while water quality had to be monitored in some areas after power went out at treatment plants.

Crisafulli said increased investment could mitigate the impact of future natural disasters, and called on the federal government to help fund a state resilience project.

The appeal for funding specifically for disaster resilience came as the state and federal governments continued trading barbs over the allocation of GST revenue.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with David Crisafulli before a press conference in the days before Cyclone Alfred made landfall.Credit: Dan Peled

Queensland took a $1.2 billion hit to its share of the $95 billion tax takings in the Commonwealth Grants Commission recommendations issued last week.

The state government has protested the proposed allocation, arguing Queensland is being punished for the mismanagement of other states and calling on treasurer Jim Chalmers to intervene.

“There’s an arm wrestle,” Crisafulli said.

“We certainly weren’t pleased with the news on Friday that somehow Melbourne and Sydney are going to be rewarded for some pretty ordinary behaviour over the last few years, and that’s going to come from Queensland.

“That is a real shoddy deal. I don’t think Queenslanders will cop that … I don’t think it’s fair and reasonable. Queensland should not be punished the way that we will be because of other states.”

Speaking in Brisbane on Monday morning, Chalmers did not give the state much reason to be optimistic.

“It’s not unusual for state treasurers to want more money from the Commonwealth. It is not unprecedented for state treasurers to try and blame Commonwealth treasurers for pressure on their own budgets,” he told reporters.

“The Commonwealth Grants Commission process is an independent process, a process which takes place at arm’s length from the government of the day.

“The state government should not be blaming the Commonwealth government. We’ve all got pressures on our budget.”

He said Queensland benefited from an extra $8.8 billion in coal royalties, and was getting other federal funding including $7.2 billion to upgrade the Bruce Highway.

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