Former Qld Governor Paul de Jersey to head Cyclone Alfred inquiry

The former Queensland governor who oversaw the review into the 2022 floods has been tasked with an inquiry into the handling of Cyclone Alfred.

The public and organisations will be able to make submissions to an inquiry into the handling of ex-Cyclone Alfred, to be headed by former Queensland governor Paul de Jersey.

The inquiry would open immediately and submissions would close on April 14, Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner told this week’s Brisbane City Council meeting.

Labor Opposition Leader Jared Cassidy and other Opposition councillors used this week’s council meeting to slam the early return to service of public transport and communication around evacuation centres and the cyclone itself after Mr Schrinner at one point said the city had “dodged a bullet’’.

Mr de Jersey, the former Supreme Court Chief Justice, headed the wide-ranging inquiry into the 2022 flood which found the early alert system administered by the federal government was “undercooked’’.

It also found council should assess the adequacy of having only two major evacuation centres for a city the size of Brisbane, review the implementation of a Mud Army in response to such an event, take on board feedback regarding waste disposal, road closures and sandbags in its operational review of the 2022 weather event

All 37 of his recommendations had since been adopted, Mr Schrinner said.

That included better sandbag prepaations and early removal of ferries from the river.

The 2022 inquiry was criticised for not taking public submissions or consulting with state emergency services.

But the federal government has missed its own deadline ot roll out a national text alert system.

Paul de Jersey. Photo: Steve Pohlner

The 2025 review would assess the effectiveness of Mr de Jersey’s 2022 recommendations as well as how Brisbane City Council responded to TC Alfred.

“Our council helped residents prepare by distributing an extraordinary 469,000 sandbags, publishing timely advice about flood risks and opening shelters and evacuation centres when required,” Mr Schrinner said.

“Mr de Jersey is an extraordinary Queenslander, and I want to thank him for agreeing to review how his previous recommendations performed during this extraordinary weather event.

“In particular, the Voluntary Home Buy Back program introduced after 2022 has proved incredibly successful in Brisbane and is something I want to see the federal and state governments support again now.

“While Brisbane being threatened by cyclones is very rare, reviewing how we prepare for severe weather events is very important.

“We can’t prevent flooding in Brisbane, but being prepared makes a big difference.”

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner (right) with a CityCat being lifted out of the water at Riveregate Marina before the cyclone hit. Picture: John Gass

The 2022 Brisbane Flood Review included a recommendation to reinstate the voluntary home purchase scheme in collaboration with the state and federal governments.

Following the review, the Council successfully advocated for a new scheme funded by the State and Federal governments.

Of the 293 Brisbane properties purchased through this scheme, early indications show 189 would have been impacted during the recent weather event, demonstrating the success of the scheme.

Mr Schrinner has written to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Premier David Crisafulli about support for the continuation of the Voluntary Home Buy Back program.

Mr Cassidy said a review, even one headed by Paul de Jersey, could not account for a “lack of leadership from the Lord Mayor at a time of natural disaster’’.

“Time and time again, Adrian Schrinner ducks and hides from his responsibilities and Brisbane residents are left scrambling,’’ he said.

“In the wake of ex-tropical Cyclone Alfred we heard (Mr) Schrinner acknowledge on Sunday that there would be more rain that night and he was concerned about creek flooding. But the Lord Mayor failed to take any action.

“This meant that as homes across Brisbane were inundated with flood waters, there were no evacuation centres open.

BOM satellite image showing tropical cyclone Alfred approaching Queensland on March 5.

“This LNP Council are making a habit out of announcing reviews, just to cover their own incompetence.’’

“In 2022, the De Jersey review was scathing of the poor communication with residents.

“It seems the LNP have learnt nothing and left people in the dark once again at a critical time.’’

Mr Cassidy said while decisions had to be made “on the fly” 250 traffic signals were not operating when buses were sent out, before being recalled to depots only hours later.

Drivers, who knew best where trouble spots were located, were not consulted.

“A lot went really, really wrong,” he said.

But council transport chair Ryan Murphy blasted Labor for attacking council’s cyclone response “post fact from the cheap seats”.

He added that the weather could not be predicted.

“They (Labor) have said we needed to do better than the QPS, do better than BOM,” he said.

He said council had tried to get bus services back up quickly because they were critical to keeping the city running.

LNP councillors also pointed to the lack of damage to ferries and key decisions such as evacuating the Virginia bus depot.

Mr Murphy said it was wrong to suggest council had put drivers’ lives at risk.

Infrastructure chair Andrew Wines said the city had escaped major damage to infrastructure partly because the city had prepared well, particularly securing work sites.

He said, as an example, the Moggill Rd intersection upgrade was up and running almost immediately after the crisis was over.

Other councillors spoke at the weekly meeting about actions, such as evacuating the Virginia bus depot, which had protected public assets.

Labor Councillor for Morningside, Lucy Collier, said the de Jersey inquiry needed to investigate the handling of public transport post-cyclone.

“Traffic on Brisbane’s roads on the Tuesday and Wednesday was some of the worst we have seen in (recent) times,” she said.

“Buses were skipping stops, people were left behind for hours.’’

Independent Councillor Nicole Johnston has blasted council’s “information blackout” on evacuation centres during Cyclone Alfred.

Ms Johnston, whose southside ward of Tennyson is notoriously flood prone, said she would be making a submission to the de Jersey inquiry into handling of the event.

She said the first she heard of details of the evacuation centres was when she read a social media post by LNP councillor Sarah Hutton, despite asking for the information only the day before.

“We were told there were no local ones, we were told there was no information, we are told they were not opening,” she said.

A council spokeswoman said however that Ms Hutton’s post referred to a church-run centre in her (nearby) ward.

Councillors were provided information on BCC-run centres, she said.

Meanwhile, council has confirmed kerbside collection services would return to business-as-usual next week.

Normal services would resume on Monday, March 24, with Mansfield, Carina, and Carina Heights scheduled for kerbside collection.

Make-up collections for areas missed because of the impacts of the cyclone would be completed during the upcoming school holidays.

A fast-tracked collection was completed ahead of the severe weather in the week starting in March 3 for Hawthorne, Hemmant, Lota, Wynnum and Lytton.

Those suburbs would be revisited in the week starting on March 31 to ensure no one missed the service as many residents brought their items inside in preparation for damaging winds.

Originally published as Former Qld Governor Paul de Jersey to head Cyclone Alfred inquiry