The clean up in Maribyrnong.Credit:Justin McManus
The Coalition’s motion,with Greens amendments,passed on the voices,meaning individual votes weren’t counted. It ensures the Environment and Planning Committee will now consider the state’s preparedness and flood response,separate to the review by Melbourne Water into the Maribyrnong River disaster.
Georgie Crozier,leader of the opposition in the upper house,said Victorians wanted answers that the parliamentary inquiry could provide in ways the Melbourne Water review could not.
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The parliamentary probe will examine the adequacy of early warning systems,resourcing for the State Emergency Service,the 2007 government decision to approve a flood wall around Flemington Racecourse and “how corporate interests may influence decision-making at the expense of communities and climate change preparedness”.
Melbourne Water’s Maribyrnong review had been condemned by residents and experts for itsnarrow scope. The head of the inquiry,Nick Wimbush,resigned this month afterThe Age revealed he had,in a previous role,supported planning changes that led to a riverside retirement village building homes that were swamped during the October 2022 floods.
More than 500 homes and businesses in Melbourne’s inner west were inundated by floodwater in October last year.Two men died in the state’s north.
Liberal David Davis said the Melbourne Water review was like getting school children to mark their own homework.