“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”. [Shane L. Stone, Coordinator General, National Resilience and Recovery Agency, quoted at news.com.au 4 March 2022]
Geoscience Australia (GA) was created in 2001 when the Australian Surveying and Land Information Group (AUSLIG) merged with the Australian Geological Survey Organisation (AGSO).
It has gravitas.
So when it informs the general public that Australia is the lowest continent in the world with an average elevation of only 330 metres, I believe what this organisation is saying.
It points out that (excluding islands) 8,500 sq km of Australia is below sea level and another 2,909,500 sq km is within 0-199 metres of sea level – bringing the total low lying land to 38.9% of mainland Australia’s total land mass.
Additionally, another 3,728,700 sq km or 48.68% of mainland Australia is only between 200-499 metres above the current sea level.
Australia has over 330,000 sq km of coastal zone with an elevation of <30m above sea level. Major Cities only cover around 7,000km² (2%); Inner Regional areas cover about 25,000km²; Outer Regional areas cover around 44,000km² and Remote or Very Remote areas make up about 80 percent of the remaining low lying coastal regions.
To
get some idea of the extent of land Australia has that could be
considered vulnerable in regions where rivers run, just look at the pink 
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| Geoscience Australia, Elevations, retrieved 5 March 2022 |
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| Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Topographic Drainage Divisions and River Regions Map, retrieved 5 March 2022. Click to expand |
By 2011 Geoscience Australia’s national topographical mapping had identified approximately 15,000 sq km of New South Wales as being low coastal areas <30m elevation above sea level.
Its mapping had also identified 10,000 sq km of flood-prone inland locations across the state.
While the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment has identified 37 major rivers in the state - 19 coastal and 18 inland. Along with somewhere in the vicinity of 1,899 tributaries to these major rivers.
Geoscience Australia noted in 2011 that the then New South Wales Land & Property Management Authority (LPMA): recognises that it does not currently have sufficient resources to complete level 3 classification for all data captured, and has an estimated backlog of 9,000 sq km (2,250 tiles) requiring classification in the North Coast regions of Kempsey, Bellingen, Richmond Valley, Lismore, Ballina and Byron Bay. Additional funding is required to out-source this work and LPMA is seeking additional resources over the life of the current program to keep pace with capture, processing and classification tasks. [my yellow highlighting]
One has to wonder - were all 7 local governments in Northern NSW (Northern Rivers region) supplied with a complete topographical and bathymetric assessment of the land within their borders when they came to put their own floodplain management plans/strategies in place by 2014?
So the next time a public service czar wants to have a go at communities experiencing flooding by name calling, blaming entire populations for planning decisions often made a century ago and telling us we should live elsewhere – perhaps he could identify on a detailed map exactly which land across Australia won’t be further impacted by climate change-induced; flood events, land slips, erosion, permanent water level change or become so arid & hot as to become life threatening. Then advise governments of what land being free of such impediments could therefore be considered suitable to build new towns and required infrastructure far away from the 100km wide coastal zone.
Given the water course distribution in NSW, federal and state ministers along with public servants might like to consider which rivers are actually good water sources for large populations relocated from the coastal zone and at the same time guaranteed by science to be moderate to major flood free? A task of epic proportions and one I suspect none would consider undertaking.
Science has been telling us for decades that Australia is on the frontline of climate change and only a fool would argue that federal and state governments as well as the general population did not have to consider how best to adapt to extreme weather events. Australian society is clearly running out of time in which to organise mass population movements in response to what is likely to be millennia-long changes to seasons of the years and precipitation.
However, before rushing to judgement on ordinary people it would be wise for self-important individuals to first reflect on how long colonial, dominion and then federation authorities have been aware of the effect adverse weather has had on built environments and, why this has never been adequately addressed when planning for residential and commercial buildings as well as town/city infrastructure anytime in the last 234 years.
Just a few of the historic floods which might have given former President of the Liberal Party of Australia 1999-2005 Commander The Honourable Shane L Stone AC PGDK QC RAN (Rtd) pause for thought but obviously didn't......
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| "A flood in New South Wales" 1870 |
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| Maitland Flood 1893 |
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| Lismore Flood undated |
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| Georges River Flood 1956 on Liverpool, Fairfield and Canterbury-Bankstown floodplain |
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| Nepean River Flood 1961 |
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| Picton Flood 2016 |
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| Parramatta River Flood 2020 |
