Queensland and Northern NSW floods are looking pretty bad,hope no one has lost any of their investment properties
Michael
Hopefully investors have bought wisely and are okay.
No point getting a property for a 'bargain' price if it ends up underwater one day.
Hi,
Im new to this forum an really learned a lot from this. I have plans to buy IP in Brisbane area, Can any of you suggest good area with good CGU and no risk of floods and fire, appreciate your response. Ramesh
Unfortunately what were once considered to be "one in a hundred year events" are becoming the benchmark for more frequent severe storms. I've personally made it routine due diligence to to determine high water mark during the most extreme events, and then to focus on areas well above that. I purchased in Mackay shortly after the 2011 storms, and my first impression of the residential areas surrounding the CBD was that they were extremely low lying, and looked like flood plain to me. I looked for the nearest prominent hill and purchased there. Logically, in flood prone regions, the high ground should increase in value more rapidly, as demand for it should be higher than demand for the low ground. The current floods, following so closely on 2011, should make that apparent to an increasing number of people. I feel sorry for all those whose homes flood, and I am determined to never experience their despair first hand.
100% Tony……
I've been watching the footage on the tele at work today and it's absolutely gut wrenching to see such devastation again. It looks like the state government and emergency agencies learnt from the tragic events that unfolded in the 2011 floods and the response has been swift and appears to be comprehensive.
In relation to property investments it's a significant reminder how vitally important it is to complete due diligence before purchasing.
I hope all those affected by these floods remain safe…….
Jack
Our IP in North Mackay is sitting empty since Wednesday and we are nervously awaiting a call from the Property Manager to tell us if it is ok or not. I check all the flood plain mapping pre purchase however I have found a new one today that shows that for a one in 100 year flood it may just cover our street…yikes. Crossing fingers although apart from the mini tornado we haven't heard too much about Mackay this time round.
I don't wish it on anyone and hope there are no more deaths and some glorious sunshine!
It sucks to see – to go through all of this again so soon after the destruction in 2011. Hopefully all the forumites in this part of the country are doing ok.
Cheers
Jamie
Jamie Moore | Pass Go Home Loans Pty Ltd
http://www.passgo.com.au
Email Me | Phone MeMortgage Broker assisting clients Australia wide Email: [email protected]
Not much flooding in Mackay. I think the worst that happened was some roads were cut. The worst hit areas were the North Burnett region (Bundaberg, Monto, etc) and the Lockyer Valley (Laidley).
It seems as though the Queensland government has something to hide from the people they represent. They intend to lock up official documents relating to the mismanagement of Wivenhoe Dam, which contributed to the flooding of thousands of properties in and around Brisbane. To a normal sane person such as myself, who takes seriously the duty of care with which elected governments are entrusted by the electorate, this seems a gross violation of public trust. By my way of thinking, everyone involved in this cover up should be sacked, arrested, fined and imprisoned. But then again, unlike politicians, as I said, I take the duties and responsibilities of elected officials seriously.
THOUSANDS of internal documents obtained during investigations by Queensland’s $15 million public inquiry into floods and the operation of Brisbane’s Wivenhoe Dam are being withheld f rom public access and scrutiny for 30 years by the state government.
The controlling agency for the vast array of withheld documents and evidence is the Department of Justice and Attorney-General, which is also defending the government from a multi-billion-dollar damages claim being prepared by a classaction law firm on behalf of several thousand flood victims.
An examination by The Australian of brief summaries of some of the documents, which are held at a secure State Archives facility, show they include top-level correspondence, briefing notes and unheard evidence about the conduct of senior public servants and others involved in the Wivenhoe Dam, which was last year found by the inquiry to have been operated in breach of its manual.
It is unclear when the decision to prevent access to the documents was made, with the inquiry handing down its findings on the eve of last year’s election that swept Labor from power and installed Campbell Newman’s Liberal National Party government.
For the category headed ‘‘Briefing Papers’’, more than 300 files are included and consist of ‘‘documents produced by or provided to the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry for the purpose of briefing the commissioner and counsel assisting on matters relevant to the inquiry. Documents include formal briefing papers, reports, memoranda and notes’’.
Another category, ‘‘Operational Correspondence’’, consists of more than 1500 records ‘‘relating to the gathering of evidence’’, and includes documents arising from the inquiry’s requirement to government departments and individuals to produce evidence.
Another series consists of research and reference material collated by the inquiry in the course of its investigations.
The notebooks of the inquiry’s commissioner, Supreme Court judge Catherine Holmes, and the diaries of inquiry staff including investigators are also subject to a 30-year ban on public access and scrutiny.
The bans mean that material that could help flood victims in their case against the Queensland government and its insurers will remain unavailable for three decades. The lockdown of the flood inquiry documents that could be beneficial for flood victims in their legal class action comes amid an ongoing parliamentary investigation into a bungle by the state’s Crime and Misconduct Commission, which released thousands of highly sensitive documents from the Fitzgerald inquiry into corruption in the late 1980s.
The Fitzgerald inquiry documents, however, were meant to remain off-limits for 65 years because they identify confidential informants and protected witnesses who gave secret information about serious crimes, including alleged plots to murder magistrates and police in Queensland before and during the inquiry.
The floods inquiry, which went for 12 months and delivered its final report to the then premier Anna Bligh in March last year, made strong adverse findings over the operation of Wivenhoe Dam and conduct of three of the four engineers who managed it during the 2011 floods that devastated Brisbane and surrounding suburbs.
The inquiry found the dam was operated in breach of the manual at a crucial stage of the flood, and there was subsequent collusion and a cover-up to falsely purport a ‘‘facade of precision’’. Three of the four flood engineers were referred to the CMC, which determined they should not be prosecuted.
The engineers have repeatedly and strenuously denied wrongdoing, although Mr Newman and senior government figures have intervened to ensure the dam has been operated differently to manage subsequent floods.
Mr Newman has expressed concern that the state of Queensland, which owns and operates the dam, could be held liable for the losses of thousands of victims of the 2011 disaster. The proposed class action is being managed by law firm Maurice Blackburn, which has engaged overseas experts who have already concluded that much of the flooding was avoidable and would have been minimised if the dam operators had taken forecast rainfall into account.
In a statement, a spokesman for Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie told The Australian the commission of inquiry had been conducted by the previous government. ‘‘However, in the interest of openness and transparency, the AttorneyGeneral would be willing to look at whether any documents could be released,’’ he said.
Mr Bleijie, whose office has been working closely with external lawyers for Wivenhoe Dam’s insurers, QBE, and a Lloyds consortium, could not confirm when the documents were declared off-limits and whether any demands had been made about the evidence remaining unavailable to flood victims.
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