 |
| 2011 flood in Limestone St Ipswich CBD. |
THE floods inquiry's report has let down people in the devastated city of Ipswich, the city's mayor says.
About 1500 homes in Ipswich, west of Brisbane, were flooded after the Bremer River broke its banks on January 10, 2011.
Mayor Paul Pisasale said the inquiry process had taken more than a year and cost millions of dollars in lawyers' fees.
"What Ipswich was looking for, after working for 14 months to get ourselves back on track .. was a sense of closure and some understanding of what happened.
"I don't think we got that.
"It's very frustrating and a very costly exercise which has handed down recommendations that could have been done in a month.''
Mr Pisasale said Ipswich Council went into the commission with nothing to hide and had been completely exonerated.
"All I know is that I've spent 14 months of lawyers at a cost of more than $3 million to my city to tell me that Ipswich came out as a shining light,'' he said.
Brisbane City Council Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said he would implement all the report's recommendations that are relevant to council if he is re-elected at the upcoming local government elections.
"I think the people of Brisbane would expect nothing less from me,'' he said.
"... The fact that this report has come about after a massive amount of investigation and evidence (means) it would be silly to do otherwise.''
The Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) said it was grateful the commission had largely praised councils
"We still strongly believe that local government did as well as it could,'' executive director Greg Hallam said.
He admitted land planning schemes had been lacking.
"We need to do better. I don't think there's any getting away from that,'' he said.
16.3.12
