Rebuild choices to spark rows

THE soldier in charge of rebuilding flood-devastated Queensland has warned that competition for reconstruction funds will divide communities.

THE soldier in charge of rebuilding flood-devastated Queensland has warned that competition for reconstruction funds will divide communities.

As the national emergency deepened, Major General Mick Slater said "hard decisions" would be taken on which areas take priority.

As the confirmed death toll in southeast Queensland last night rose to 18, a third of country Victoria was under water and levee banks shielding the town of Echuca were in danger of being breached, putting hundreds of people at risk.

General Slater, chief of the reconstruction taskforce in Queensland, told The Australian that key decisions on priorities for the recovery effort would be made at the political level, not by him.

Those choices would cause friction within and among communities, and had political ramifications.

"I will not be making the call on these priorities; it is a call that has got to be made by the Premier's special sub-committee of cabinet," General Slater said.

"They're the people who ultimately are responsible for making decisions . . . I don't feel I have the authority or the moral authority to do that."

The estimated cost of rebuilding in Queensland alone stands at $10 billion and the national economy will take a hit at least twice that when lost production and destruction of public infrastructure are taken into account. The damage bill is rising relentlessly as the crisis drags on in Queensland and new emergencies erupt around the nation, with northern and western Victoria now being hit by record flooding.

Two more bodies were discovered yesterday in the Lockyer Valley, which bore the brunt of an "inland tsunami" that preceded last week's disastrous flooding of Brisbane and the satellite city of Ipswich.

The 18th confirmed victim was a middle-aged man whose body was found in debris near the town of Helidon, 106km west of Brisbane. Earlier, the remains of a middle-aged woman were located at nearby Grantham. The grim find was made during the third search of the property, underlining the challenges confronting searchers as they sift through debris-choked towns, creeks and paddocks. A further 14 people are listed as missing, in line with expectations that the toll from the southeast Queensland floods will exceed 30. This is on top of the 13 who died in road accidents and other flood-related incidents in lead-up flooding in central and western Queensland.

Anna Bligh yesterday said 500,000sq km of the state and 3.1 million people were affected by the flood emergency. The Premier appealed to Lockyer Valley residents, anxious to return to their homes, to be patient.

"Police and army personnel are being absolutely systematic and rigorous," Ms Bligh said.

"We need to be confident that bodies that are in the town of Grantham are recovered. And people, I hope, will understand the pressure that the police are working under in these sorts of circumstances and be patient.

"They are working as hard as they can to be in a position to allow people back into Grantham as quickly as possible."

Rivers have burst their banks across five states, with the crisis in Victoria escalating dramatically last night as the flood levees at Echuca, 200km north of Melbourne, threatened to be overwhelmed by a "one in 100 years" flood of the Campaspe River.

More than 3500 people have been evacuated across country Victoria, and 1400 homes have been inundated by some of the worst flooding in years. At least 34 towns were affected last night across northwestern and central regions of the state. The swollen Campaspe River was last night rising by 100mm an hour.

In Queensland, the largely evacuated town of Condamine, 370km west of Brisbane, was due last night to be hit by a third major flood in three weeks, frustrating residents' hopes of returning home.

Flooding was easing in northern and central NSW, but an estimated 7000 people remained isolated in northern and central NSW in towns cut off by the floodwaters coursing south from Queensland.

The West Australian community of Carnarvon, 900km north of Perth, reported yesterday that 15 homes would be condemned after being hit by floods that also shut down fruit and vegetable growing.

Mopping up was continuing in northern Tasmania and around the South Australian centre of Naracoorte, 336km southeast of Adelaide.

In Brisbane yesterday, 49 homes and 64 businesses remained underwater, and 26,037 premises were without power. More than 1200 people were to spend another night in evacuation centres at the central Brisbane showgrounds and QE2 stadium in the city's southeast.

Touring the Queensland flood zone, General Slater told The Australian that, while "the people who own the hurt" would be encouraged to make decisions locally, there would inevitably be competition for limited resources. With such widespread devastation, he said, "some hard decisions" would have to be made on priorities.

The army man who assisted General Peter Cosgrove in the massive rebuilding effort after Cyclone Larry devastated far north Queensland communities in 2006, and who also led troops in East Timor, said prioritising was the "key to success".

General Slater and his flood recovery taskforce would make recommendations on the order of rebuilding to the state cabinet committee headed by Ms Bligh. It also comprises state Treasurer Andrew Fraser, Deputy Premier and Health Minister Paul Lucas, Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts, Public Works Minister Robert Schwarten and the federal minister appointed to handle the commonwealth's contribution, Joe Ludwig.

The sub-committee has asked General Slater to focus on community support, health and wellbeing; economic recovery and employment; housing and reconstruction; roads and transport; and environment.

"Along those five lines of rebuilding, my first priority is people," General Slater said. "The second priority I am working on are those aspects of road and transport infrastructure -- rail, bridges and the rest of it -- and building recovery that supports the economy, getting the Queensland economy and its contribution to the national economy up and running again."

Even in economic terms, there were competing interests. General Slater gave the example of the central Queensland town of Theodore, flooded twice in recent weeks, which is reliant on coal and cotton, which in turn rely on the town.

He said those industries would compete for resources to become viable again.

General Slater said he expected the initial clean-up to continue for several weeks before the reconstruction effort could begin in earnest. This, in turn, would take years.