Mackay gets $9m disaster resilience funding for cyclone, flood protection

Three projects totalling $9m will help boaties get insurance, protect property owners from floods and increase understanding the region’s waterways.

Boaties across Mackay and property owners in the northern suburbs stand to benefit from $9m in budgeted funding for three disaster resilience projects.

National Recovery and Resilience Minister Bridget McKenzie, speaking by the Pioneer River on Thursday, said the money was in the bag for a levee bank, cyclone protection for Mackay Marina, and a waterway study and education program, part of a broader $600m government spend on natural disaster resilience over six years.

“Living in Australia, we know that we will be subject to droughts, to floods, to bushfires and cyclonic activity and nobody knows that more than this particular region,” she said.

“And that is why a while ago our government committed $600m to Preparing Australia Program, to actually help communities just like Mackay to prepare better for the next disaster that is coming their way.”

Specifically, $3,315,093 will help build the ‘missing link’ of the northern bank levee, improving flood protection for Mackay’s wider downstream community, $2.5m will go towards a new ‘nib wall’ at the harbour to protect the marina fleet from cyclones and $3.5m will be allocated to Reef Catchments Limited to undertake studies of riparian areas and education programs on best practice waterway management.

Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson praised all three projects and said the harbour nib wall would help boaties secure insurance.

“It (the wall) will then deliver maximum protect for the marina, which has been in there for almost 20 years now and has of course had, because of the northerly fetch of the opening of the harbour, a very exposed liability issue in terms of cyclonic conditions that come straight down through that northerly fetch,” he said.

“So that nib wall will solve that and that will give all the boat owners an opportunity to get their boats insured when big events are bearing down on Mackay.

Dawson LNP candidate Andrew Willcox (left), Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson (centre) and Senator Bridget McKenzie talk resilience funding near the Pioneer River in Mackay ahead of the 2022 federal election. Picture: Duncan Evans

“They can’t at the moment, because there is just no protection.”

Dawson Nationals candidate Andrew Willcox said the levee bank money would keep the water in the river and away from property and people.

“It’s much better to be on the front-foot and be proactive than mop up and pick up the pieces after,” he said.

He also seconded Cr Williamson and said the nib wall would be a great addition to the region.

“When we have storm surges and when we have extremely windy events that come through, it gives our boaties protection and we do have a lot of boaties in this particular part of the world.”