Warragamba plan commendable
The government's proposal to raise Sydney's Warragamba dam has been welcomed by the Insurance Council of Australia says spokesperson Campbell Fuller.
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The Gillard government has begun its pitch to win back support in western Sydney with a commitment to spend $50 million to raise the Warragamba dam in the Blue Mountains.
As Prime Minister Julia Gillard prepares for a week-long blitz of marginal seats in the city's west, the government hopes the project, to be announced on Thursday, will drive down insurance premiums for residents in the Hawkesbury-Nepean valley.
But it is unclear who will bear the rest of the expense of the project, which has been costed at $500 million.
The view of the dam from a platform at the Warragamba Dam Visitor Centre. Photo: Simon Bennett
The funding for the Warragamba dam project is part of a $100 million redirection of money from terrorism reinsurance to flood mitigation.
Ms Gillard, Financial Services Minister Bill Shorten and Emergency Management Minister Mark Dreyfus will announce the policy in Ipswich.
The Commonwealth will set up a National Insurance Affordability Council, which will manage the national co-ordination of flood-risk management and make recommendations on flood and other natural disaster mitigation projects.
Part of the $100 million over two years will be allocated to flood mitigation projects in Ipswich and Roma.
Mr Shorten told ABC radio on Thursday the funding was not just about appealing to the voters of Western Sydney.
''In terms of flood mitigation this is work which will be available . . . not just for Western Sydney, but for Roma and Ipswich and in terms of Warragamba Dam it's clear this has been in the too-hard basket for a very long time,'' he said.
Infrastructure NSW has already studied the Warragamba dam project and concluded that if the dam isn't raised, upgrades to evacuation routes costing up to $600 million would be needed.
The Hakwesbury-Nepean valley is one of the nation's most heavily developed and at-risk flood plains. If Sydney were to receive the same rainfall as Brisbane did in 2011, it is estimated 43,000 residents and 9000 employees of local businesses would be at risk, 14,000 homes would flood and 6500 would be destroyed, causing damage of up to $8 billion and disrupting the NSW economy for six months.
Opposition water spokesman Barnaby Joyce has welcomed the expected announcement.
''I am glad we are breaking the way for the Prime Minister to start announcing policies that have been developed in my office,'' he told reporters in Canberra.
''I have got a whole range of others for her as soon as she wants to have a look at them.''
Greens leader Christine Milne welcomed the announcement but contrasted it to government decisions to cut funding for other environmental programs, such as the national climate change adaptation research facility.
Senator Milne said the announcement was related to Ms Gillard's stay in western Sydney.
''It's clearly in the context of the Prime Minister heading to western Sydney and trying to improve the government's standing,'' she said, adding that it followed a Coalition discussion paper about more dams earlier this month.
Ms Gillard will next week leave her Sydney harbourside residence Kiribilli House and check into a hotel in Rooty Hill where she will be based for her five-day swing through a number of marginal seats.
Opposition leader Tony Abbott, who last month held a mini-campaign launch in Western Sydney, is also believed to be planning to visit western Sydney next week.
with AAP
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