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| "The truth is that the dam engineers and Seqwater saw it as more important to save a few cattle and a couple of low-level bridges around Fernvale than tens of thousands of homes in the cities of Ipswich and Brisbane." |
A decision on whether or not a class action will proceed over the disastrous 2011 Brisbane River flood could be days away.
Lawyers Maurice Blackburn have been working in conjunction with litigant funder IMF (Australia) for over 18 months to prepare new Brisbane River flood modelling.
They have engaged world engineering and hydrology experts to prepare their case which is likely to be the largest class action in Australian history.
The Floods Commission has already determined that Wivenhoe Dam was not managed in accordance with the Dam Operating Manual from 8:00am on Saturday 8 January 2011 and that had the dam been differently managed, the flooding downstream in the Brisbane River - which affected Ipswich, Goodna and Brisbane - would have been lower.
How much lower is the $64 million question - or will that be the $1.64 BILLION question - for the State Government?
The truth is that the dam engineers and Seqwater saw it as more important to save a few cattle and a couple of low-level bridges around Fernvale than tens of thousands of homes in the cities of Ipswich and Brisbane.
Based on Maurice Blackburn's unrivalled success in class action across Australia, flood victims would be well-advised to sign up for the pending class action.
Potential claimants would include home and business owners, renters and others who suffered losses as a result of the flood.
Claimants should be careful of doomsday soothsayers who are still peddling advice not to sign up for a class action.
If these malcontents had been on the Titanic in 1912, they would have been telling people not to join the lifeboats because bigger help was coming!
7.12.12
