Eastern Australia Floods Recovery Prioritisation – Interim Guidance
Context
Severe flooding across Eastern Australia has resulted in loss of life and significant damage to homes, business, livestock/animals, agriculture and critical infrastructure. Bureau of Meteorology modelling predicts that severe weather events are likely to continue across the north east of Australia for the next three months. With limited opportunities for waterlogged land to dry out compounding the effects of severe weather events, impacts on the community are expected to be felt for some time.
Damage to critical infrastructure, particularly roads, is hampering recovery efforts as is a lack of skilled trades and building materials. Industries have reported on the long term shortages in skilled trades and materials particularly timber products. Buildings materials which had been stockpiled in flooded areas to support
recovery efforts were also lost, all of which places additional pressure on an already stressed building and construction industry further extending the time to recovery and impact on the community.
Ongoing severe weather patterns will also continue to compound impacts on the agricultural sector with waterlogged lands unable to sustain the movement of necessary heavy machinery. Flood waters are also removing nutrient-rich soil and seeds critical to the production of essential produce. In some areas, it is expected that farmers with limited reserves and facing the threat of recurring severe weather events will be forced to sell their farms, further impacting the community and national supply chains.
Businesses across NSW and QLD are dealing with the after-effects of flooding. Road closures and rail disruptions continue to cause problems, isolating homes and businesses and causing a loss of perishable foods due to supply chain impacts.
The impact of these severe and ongoing weather events is further compounded by external issues impacting on national supply chains such COVID – 19 which has seen worker absenteeism spike nationwide. The supply of materials from international suppliers has also been affected with ports struggling to maintain operations due to worker absenteeism and the rising costs of doing business.
While significant measures have been put in place to support recovery efforts, ongoing severe weather events and external factors such as COVID – 19 continue to significantly impede recovery efforts.
Purpose of this document
This document aims to establish voluntary prioritisation guidelines for government and industry to further support both government and industry with recovery efforts in areas of NSW and QLD which have been impacted by severe flooding. The Guidelines include four key areas for prioritisation as agreed between stakeholders. Added consideration for vulnerable cohorts, for example the provision of goods to aged care facilities, has also been included.
Please note, this guidance is not a government mandate. It is a model through which industry and government can voluntarily collaborate to prioritise the repair and rebuild of flood damaged infrastructure by prioritising the movement and allocation of essential supplies and services. It does not override any existing contractual obligations nor will the National Coordination Mechanism (the NCM) be a regulator or mediator in contractual disputes. The NCM will continue to bring stakeholders together and provide a forum through which urgent and complex issues can be identified and resolved as required.
Industry will need to work closely with the Governments of NSW and QLD on what should be prioritised in line with the principles voluntarily agreed upon below, taking a best endeavours approach. Priorities will differ across affected areas. Geographical areas for prioritisation will be designated by the governments of NSW and QLD.
Key areas of recovery identified for prioritisation
Note: All stakeholders agree that the return of vulnerable displaced members of the community to their homes and/or safe temporary accommodation should be prioritised.
Repairs and rebuild of private infrastructure and/or the establishment of temporary accommodation (not in order of priority)
o The supply of building and construction materials, including resilient materials
o Access to skilled trades
o Specialised skills, such as insurance and damage assessors
2. Repair and rebuild of critical infrastructure:
o Key road and rail infrastructure, including access to key producers
Messaging for industry and the community on road outages and updates on repairs
o Sewerage systems
o Communications
o Electricity
o Fresh Water
o Damaged warehousing and storage infrastructure
3. Facilitation of essential community services, prioritising vulnerable members of the community:
o Aged and disability care, including prioritisation of essential goods
o Mental health and social support services in affected areas and to people in affected industries (e.g. farmers and vulnerable people);
o Support to local populations in the provision of information on available financial assistance.
4. Access to essential supplies, prioritising vulnerable members of the community:
o Critical medical supplies
o Essential foodstuffs
o Essential food stocks for animal welfare
Factors impacting key principles
Supply Chain
Disruptions in freight distribution due to floods and degraded road and rail into affected areas will restrict freight that can come in and out and will require prioritisation based on local and regional needs.
Disruptions to warehousing and storage due to infrastructure damage and employees evacuating and/or focusing on immediate damage to private property.
Data on key routes and infrastructure should be shared between government and industry to enable a common understanding of the frictions within supply chains.
Demand for goods will change over the period of the recovery. As the transition from immediate post flood recovery to long term reconstruction occurs, government and industry should track and enable specific prioritisation of key material.
Road infrastructure
Damaged to major rural roads will limit access and repeated use by larger vehicles (such as b- doubles).
Road repair should be prioritised based on local and regional requirements and should be focused on allowing the return of local residents and the ability for heavy freight transport.
COVID Impacts / Absenteeism / Winter Preparedness
COVID – 19 will continue to impact the workforce, particularly skilled trades, with workers required to isolate at short notice. This will cause further disruptions across all sectors, including building and construction.
The requirement for supply of medical PPE and RAT will be an ongoing priority to manage likely outbreaks during winter.
Impacts to Rail Infrastructure
Key freight rail links into and out of affected areas may be damaged, reducing capacity into and out of affected areas. Beyond the direct impacts to recovery and reconstruction, this could have impacts to key sectors such as agriculture and mining.
Prioritisation of rail repair should be conducted in liaison with key sector stakeholders.
Building materials
Prior to the recent flooding a two-year period of timber shortages caused by bushfire and flood damage had already left the NSW timber industry struggling to meet demand from infrastructure projects and record levels of housing construction. Australia had a critical housing timber shortage due to record building activity and imported timber drying up due to global demand.
COVID-19 impact on ports and shipping
COVID-19 has stretched port operations and shipping to their limit globally. This is impacting freight haulage and warehouse/storage prices as material designed for export is delayed.
Jurisdictional needs
NSW and QLD may identify and prioritise essential goods and services for recovery based on its needs and taking into account industry’s collective ability to supplement such needs.
Sufficient freight capacity
Freight providers should make best endeavours to provide freight capacity for the transport of essential items. Receiving points such as distribution centres should work to enable the delivery of freight.
Resolution of prioritisation efforts to support recovery
The Governments of NSW and QLD should liaise directly with industry stakeholders to co-ordinate prioritisation. The National Coordination Mechanism process may be used to resolve significant issues in the prioritisation process.
Industry, so far as is reasonably practicable, should implement mechanisms to support priority efforts to ensure access to skilled labour, materials and essential goods to ensure people impacted by floods return to their homes and are not further impacted.
Contact:
Emergency Management Australia: National.coordination.mechanism@homeaffairs.gov.au
National Recovery and Resilience Agency: recovery@recovery.gov.au
Office of the State Recovery Coordinator Queensland: Richard.parker@qra.qld.gov.au
Queensland Reconstruction Authority: info.qra@qra.qld.gov.au
Resilience New South Wales: info@resilience.nsw.gov.au