Key players to front flood inquiry on racecourse wall

Cassandra Morgan | October 11, 2023

The Victoria Racing Club is set to face questions about a controversial wall built around Melbourne’s Flemington Racecourse after it went unscathed while nearby homes were inundated during floods in 2022.

A parliamentary inquiry into the disaster was on Wednesday set to hear from the club alongside the president of the State Emergency Service volunteers’ association and representatives from three councils: Maribyrnong, Moonee Valley and the City of Melbourne.

The Department of Transport and Planning, Melbourne Water and two of its former engineers are also expected to front the inquiry.

Melbourne Water copped criticism following the October 2022 disaster as residents of the city’s northwest complained they did not receive adequate information or warning about what was to come.

An independent panel was appointed by the agency to look at the potential causes and contributors to the Maribyrnong River flood, including the levee at the Melbourne Cup track.

But the panel’s final report stated that the flood wall’s contribution to the duration and extent of the flooding could not be directly assessed, because there was no relevant modelling.

In a submission to the parliamentary inquiry, former Melbourne Water engineer Geoff Crapper criticised the agency’s failed flood modelling, predictions and warnings for the Maribyrnong River community.

He also pointed to the agency as the “primary cause” of flooding at the Rivervue Retirement Village, where 47 properties were inundated.

Melbourne Water has indicated an improved modelling tool is being developed but won’t be available until April 2024, and work has started to mitigate the impact of the Flemington Racecourse levee on future floods.

A second retired engineer, Ron Sutherland, called the major flood warning for Maribyrnong “grossly inaccurate and belated” in his scathing submission to the parliamentary inquiry.

The Victoria Racing Club’s submission ahead of its appearance at the probe detailed what led up to the Flemington flood wall’s 2007 construction.

The club noted it went through a six-month community consultation process ahead of the build.

The parliamentary inquiry is slated to hear from Rivervue Retirement Village management and residents on Thursday along with the Victorian Planning Authority and others.