Lessons of a sunburnt country

With the big clean-up under way from floodwaters that stretch from Queensland to the Victorian border, it is fitting to ask whether as people living in a land of drought and flooding rains we have been slow to learn its lessons. As Jamie Walker writes in Inquirer on Saturday, if Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity was to do the same thing over and over expecting a different result, there is a hint of madness in the way this country excels in disaster recovery.

This is not to underplay the suffering. At least 13 people were killed and 15,000 homes in Brisbane inundated. The northern NSW town of Lismore has been submerged in floodwaters 2m deeper than the tragic events of 2017 from which locals had only just recovered. The floodwaters from Lismore swamped the coastal town of Ballina, which joined smaller towns all along the coast that were cut off and left desperate by an east coast low pressure system that pushed its way south.

Flooding in Sydney was short of predictions but enough to provide a wake-up call on how prepared the nation’s largest population centre is for events that records show have happened repeatedly across centuries. If there is a silver lining it is the community spirit and resolve to help neighbours and those in need. In many areas the floods achieved a miracle, pushing aside the lingering constraints of the pandemic as strangers hugged in relief to celebrate a return to safety.

The Insurance Council of Australia says 60,000 claims already have been lodged for the disaster. As claims mount, the cost for everyone will continue to rise. Insurance premiums to cover disasters such as floods have increased threefold in 15 years, if it is available at all.

Calls have been made for a European-style protection gap entity insurance scheme that provides national coverage by spreading the risk among all households. Such schemes can ensure that claims paid out are used to rebuild to higher standards, encouraging resilience.

Such a scheme will not deal with the poor-quality infrastructure planning overseen by state and federal governments, however. This includes a lack of investment in dams and other measures to capture heavy rains and store excess river flows for productive use later on. Nor does it justify the fact many thousands of homes have been allowed to be built at new housing developments situated on flood-prone land.

Recent events have shown once again that in the sunburnt country when drought and bushfires have had their way, they often will be followed by flooding rains. Two consecutive years of La Nina weather patterns have recharged the nation’s badly parched catchments and river systems. But they have left a trail of devastation as well.

It is time to get serious about living securely in a landscape that will always be wild by nature.