AFAC’s interest in the outcome of this Commission of Inquiry is to optimise future conditions for AFAC members to manage flood emergencies as they arise. To that end, our submissions focus on those areas which have the potential to improve both community safety and flood response operations.

Without detracting from the specific submissions made in the body of this submisison, we summarise as follows:

1. Well-developed flood intelligence systems are key to both community safety and operational outcomes, and should be a funding priority for government.
2. Warnings are a critical part of flood emergency management. The approach to emergency warnings by government should be multi-hazard wherever possible.
3. Community engagement is crucial to the effectiveness of warnings and funding for community engagement and education is a key part of any flood emergency management strategy.
4. Land use planning should take into account all probable floods. It is misleading and potentially dangerous to focus on a single flood planning level such as the 1:100AEP flood.
5. All development in flood-prone areas should be based on evacuation capability assessment.

Contact: Paul Considine

Phone: +61 3 9418 2388