It is exactly 700 days since the devastating Brisbane River flood of 11 January 2011.
700 days of torment and suffering for tens of thousands of families in the path of the Brisbane River in Ipswich, Goodna and Brisbane.
700 days for families to rebuild their lives from the ruins of destruction.
Both Premier Anna Bligh and LNP Leader Campbell Newman promised the world when the Floods Commission Report was handed down on 16 March 2012.
Premier Bligh must have thanked her lucky stars she was not condemned by the Floods Commission while Water Utilities Minister Stephen Robertson (pictured) seemed to have woken up from his annual summer siesta just in time to accept the report which did little to praise the lack-lustre administration over which he presided.
Unbridled promises were made by our leaders to ensure people's legal rights were not trampled on and that the State of Queensland would act as a model litigant in this muddy mess.
700 days after this tragedy, Morris Blackburn Lawyers seem to be the only ones keeping the candle of hope alight in their bid to show the Wivenhoe Dam Operating Manual had been breached and that the negligence of the dam engineers caused the massive downstream flooding, which could have been avoided if the engineers had put more emphasis on protecting the people of Brisbane and Ipswich rather than a herd of cows and some low-level vehicular bridges around Fernvale.
Anna Bligh has skipped Queensland in the wake of this disaster and now all flood victims wait in earnest anticipation of Maurice Blackburn's decision whether or not to proceed with potentially Australia's largest ever class action.
The ball will then be well and truly in Premier Campbell Newman's court to do the right thing by the people of Queensland.
700 days and exactly 23 months later, all flood victims deserve a fair go by the state government.
11.12.12
