NEXT FMA MEETING: 9 AUGUST AT BRISBANE (QLD CHAPTER) AND 17 AUGUST AT SYDNEY (NSW/ACT CHAPTER)
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
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The extremely hot weather in Europe looks like breaking all records globally and I wonder what's next for us in Australia.
The Bureau of Meteorology says we haven't reached El Niño conditions yet but this may happen in coming weeks.
The Bureau says the planet is in "unprecedented territory" and July is thought to have been the hottest month recorded globally.
Maybe this summer will bring a combination of bush fires as well as a flood or two, just as we saw during the 4th cricket test in England recently. Us cricket lovers were pleased to see two days of solid high and heavy rain save Australia from certain defeat
at the same time as the rest of Europe was boiling hot.
Fasten your seat belts as it could be an unprecedented summer either way!
ID Ian Dinham | FMA President
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NSW FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT MANUAL RELEASED |
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The NSW Department of Planning and Environment (Environment Heritage Group) has advised that the Flood Risk Management Manual: the policy and manual for flood liable land (2023) has been gazetted as the manual for flood liable land under S733 of the Local Government Act 1993. It replaces the Floodplain Development Manual (2005).
The new Manual breaks the flood risk management task for Councils down into 10 key principles, with a further 14 guideline documents in the toolkit covering administration and delivery of FRM, modelling and floodplain categorisation, risk management and emergency management approaches, economic and land use planning advice.
FMA Technical Director Danny Rose said “While it will take us
all some time to digest such a huge body of work, FMA is very grateful to the DPE EHG team that have worked so hard on the Manual and toolkit over many years.
“FMA Members were part of the working groups that helped with the review process and we greatly appreciate the opportunity to be involved with such a foundation document.”
DPE
EHG Principal Flood Specialist Duncan McLuckie has advised that the Department has communicated with Councils, and will be working closely with them to support the transition to the new Manual and toolkit.
The FMA Workshop following the NSW/ACT Quarterly Meeting on 9 August will include an introduction to the new Manual by Mr McLuckie.
The Manual and an updated toolkit are available at the NSW Department of Planning and Environment (Environment and Heritage) website, floodplains webpage:
https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/water/floodplains/floodplain-manual |
INQUIRY INTO INSURERS' RESPONSE TO THE 2022 FLOODS |
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Commonwealth Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones and Member for Calare Andrew Gee have announced a parliamentary inquiry into insurers’ response to the 2022 floods. The announcement followed visits to the flood‑affected central west NSW towns of Molong, Eugowra, and Cudal.
The inquiry will take a whole‑of‑economy view of
challenges faced by the intense and frequent flood events.
It will investigate the preparedness of insurers to respond to the frequency of these events, and consider supply chain issues, skills, labour shortages, claims handling, and communication with policy holders.
The 2022 floods in South‑East Queensland and NSW are the
costliest natural disaster for insurance costs in Australian history. As of June 2023, the ICA estimated the February‑March 2022 floods in South‑East Queensland and NSW caused $5.87 billion in insured damages.
In April this year the Insurance Council of Australia commissioned its own independent review of insurers’ responses to the February-March 2022 floods, known as the CAT221 event, which is due
for release in October. |
ICA SURVEY - FMA MEMBERS' INPUT SOUGHT |
The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has engaged Deloitte to conduct its external review into the insurance industry's response to the CAT 221 flooding event across New South Wales and Queensland in early 2022.
That review will look to identify lessons learned from insurers’ response to the floods – both from good practice
and practices requiring improvement – to better prepare and inform the industry’s response to future extreme weather events in a changing climate.
As part of the review, FMA has been invited by Deloitte to contribute its views and perspectives on the insurance industry’s response to CAT 221.
Issues covered include: - How did FMA Members interact
with insurers?
- To what extent do Members consider ‘surge capacity’ was appropriate given their flood risk exposure?
- What specific steps could insurers take to better manage flood risk in the future and facilitate faster recovery from flooding events?
- Do you have any other information or comments that may be relevant to the review?
Most FMA Member Councils in Queensland and NSW have been impacted by
these events, so your views and experiences can make a valuable contribution to the survey.
Please send your comments by 10 August to Executive Officer Glenn Evans: eo@floods.asn.au
In addition Deloitte is conducting a survey to gather insights from insurance policyholders affected by the CAT 221 event about their experiences with the insurance industry and relevant insurers.
This survey will close on 11 August 2023, and is available at: https://www.deloitte.com/au/en/services/audit/analysis/cat221-insurance-industry-response-survey.html
The ICA’s Senior Manager, Mitigations and Catastrophe Management, Liam Walter, will provide updates on latest developments in
flood insurance to the upcoming FMA Quarterly Meetings in Brisbane and Sydney. |
$1.8 BILLION DRFA FUNDING ANNOUNCED |
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Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories Kristy McBain has announced advance payments of nearly $1.8 billion in natural disaster payments to the states to allow local flood, fire and cyclone repairs to be fast-tracked. Since January 2022 jointly funded Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA) have been activated for 65 disasters in 332 unique Local Government
Areas. The funding program was offered to all disaster-impacted states with reconstruction costs passing the threshold for Commonwealth contribution, with most accepting the offer. Under the DRFA, payments are generally made after a state has submitted an audited claim for financial assistance, following reconstruction works. However, in recognition of the last two years of compounding, concurrent natural disasters, with recovery hampered by COVID, the Commonwealth
Government is making funds available up front. The payments represent 40 per cent of the estimated amount the Commonwealth would contribute under the DRFA for 2021-22 and 2022-23. Breakdown of advance payments by state: NSW $887,723,570 Queensland $758,401,610 South Australia $42,912,456 Tasmania $4,880,367 Western Australia $93,902,428 Total $1,787,820,431 For more information see: https://minister.infrastructure.gov.au/mcbain |
FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT SHORT COURSE ONLINE |
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FMA 2023 SYDNEY CONFERENCE PHOTOS NOW AVAILABLE |
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Pictured: FMA Technical Director Danny Rose and Joshua Eggleton (KBR) at Sydney in May, 2023. During the 2023 FMA Conference in
Sydney, professional photographer Peter Sechi took many, many photographs of the networking events, session presentations and trade displays.
If you would like to flick through these photos, and download images that are relevant to you please follow the below link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1us76xzhjmal8gi/AABoOYwDn2NAgYVuoeThVHzLa?dl=0 |
NZ RIVERS GROUP CONFERENCE 2023 |
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Our New Zealand colleague Sharyn Westlake from Greater Wellington Regional Council has let us know that registrations for this year’s New Zealand Rivers Group Conference are open. The conference will be held in Nelson, on the South Island’s north coast, from 8 to 10 November, with the theme of ‘Living with urban
rivers’. It will follow a similar format to last year’s event with invited speakers, but will include an open session for people to share their own stories, through a mix of posters and oral presentations. Details here: https://www.riversconference2023.co.nz/ |
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Our Young Floodplain Managers network has continued to grow during the year, however we are always on the lookout for more members and committee representatives. YFM membership is guided towards those up-and-coming in the flood risk industry, catering for those with less than 15 years’ experience.
However, everyone is welcome to join and attend YFM events. One of the goals for this year is to seek more public sector representation to join the YFM and the various YFM committees around the country, so if you or any of your staff meet the requirements we would love for you to join.
Please feel free to email us at yfm@floods.asn.au for further information. If you are interested in joining the network of YFMs, we would love to have you. For more information on joining, visit floods.asn.au/yfm |
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UPCOMING MEETINGS AND EVENTS
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FMA New South Wales/ACT Chapter Meeting Dates for 2023
Thursday 17 August - NSW/ACT Chapter Meeting at Sydney Thursday 16 November - NSW/ACT Chapter Meeting at Sydney. FMA Queensland Chapter Meeting Dates for 2023 Wednesday 9 August - Queensland Chapter Meeting at Brisbane Wednesday 8 November - Queensland Chapter Meeting at Brisbane. |
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No current
vacancies.
If you are interested in promoting a vacant position with us, please contact us.
Please remember that while we circulate Vacant Positions in this monthly Flyer, sometimes position closing deadlines don't align with the time of its distribution. Make sure you head to floods.asn.au/jobs to check for Vacant Positions that may not be listed here due to shorter closing dates.
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TRAVELLING CAPS AND BEANIES
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Pictured: FMA International Member Del Schwalls and FMA President Ian Dinham at Noosa Heads, Queensland. |
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