“We must think more seriously about climate and disaster risk when planning future housing development,” Watt said. “It makes absolutely no sense for all levels of government to spend billions in disaster recovery while we continue to see housing built on floodplains.”
National cabinet will discuss the overhaul of planning laws in disaster-prone areas,Watt said,confirming the work would be led by the NSW government.
The NSW government will soon respond to an independent review of the state’s flooding disasters,which recommended at-risk communities are helped to move from floodplains.
“Our focus is on progressing the recommendation of the flood inquiry,” a NSW government spokesman said.
“The inquiry also made it clear that it is not a one-solution-fits-all proposition – different communities want different solutions.”
Rural Victoria,Melbourne and northern NSW were hit with floods in October and November,they followed other devastating floods in Sydney’s Hawkesbury region and northern NSW,which cumulatively caused billions of dollars in damage.