Australia’s disaster relief boss has dug his heels in after he was criticised for saying people who choose to live in flood-prone areas shouldn’t blame the government for losing their homes.
Shane Stone, the head of the National Resilience and Recovery Agency, told Nine Entertainment that flood plain development should end and inundated homes not be rebuilt.
“You’ve got people who want to live among the gum trees – what do you think is going to happen? Their house falls in the river and they say it’s the government’s fault,” he said.
“Australians need to have an honest conversation about where and how people build homes. The taxpayer and the ratepayer cannot continue to pick up the bill for these huge, catastrophic damage events.”
Mr Stone, a former Northern Territory leader and Liberal Party president who was appointed by Scott Morrison to lead the NRRA, said councils must end their “poor planning decisions”.
His interview sparked a fierce backlash from thexjmtzyw Opposition, with Labor’s Murray Watt accusing Mr Stone of “victim blaming” and calling for him to be sacked.
“Families are piling up their destroyed belongings on streets. They need our support right now. They don’t deserve to be kicked by the man who is supposed to be helping them right now,” Mr Watt said.
But Mr Stone doubled down hours later, denying that his “gum tree” comment had been flippant.
“Nothing flippant about it at all. I mean, we’ve got people in the bushfire zone who are wanting to go back and build exactly where they were before. I mean, seriously?” he told Sky News.
“The senator has been trying to get me sacked for a while. I mean, this is a hard job, I can tell you, 24/7.”
The extraordinary flooding disaster in NSW and southeast Queensland has destroyed homes and resulted in more than 60,000 insurance claims.
The Insurance Council of Australia said 83 per cent of the claims made so far related to property, with the total cost expected to exceed $900m.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the damage bill from the disaster could run into the billions of dollars.
The crisis has reignited debate over development in flood prone areas, as Australia’s population and cities grow and extreme weather events propelled by climate change occur more regularly.
Mr Stone acknowledged his comments on flood plain development were “fighting words”, and they triggered criticism following the article’s publication.
On Friday morning, Senator Watt tweeted: “Morrison’s hand-picked disaster tsar Shane Stone blames flood victims, when he’s been sitting on a $4.8bn disaster fund that could have been used for flood mitigation.”
The federal government’s $4.8bn emergency response fund has been in the spotlight this week amid the flood crisis, because only a fraction of the available money has been spent.
The ERF investment vehicle allows the government to draw up to $200m a year in additional funding for emergencies and natural disaster recovery and preparedness.
Since it was established in 2019 with an initial $3.9bn investment, the ERF has earnt some $836m in interest and paid out $50m in disaster projects, according to the Department of Finance.
Senior government MPs have defended the ERF, saying it is working as intended and there is no need to dip into it when there are other funds readily available.
The Morrison government has announced it will co-fund with the NSW government a $435m support package for flood-affected communities across the state, with similar financial help on the horizon for Queensland.
“We know this isn’t our first rodeo as a country in this space,” Emergency Services Minister Bridget McKenzie told reporters on Friday.
“We know that this recovery will take time … the ongoing rollout of support packages will not stop on this long road to recovery.”
NCA NewsWire has contacted Mr Stone for comment.
