The tough conversation Australia needs to have about building on flood plains

A professor in urban planning says it’s inarguable Australia keeps building homes on land at risk of flooding, with political pressure and pressure from developers regularly winning out when it comes to decision-making.

And population growth is only adding to the issue.

“I’ll start by saying I know there are a lot of people struggling this week – I know some personally – so I’m not trying to sound like I’m saying ‘I told you so’ but the reality is we do know we are building in areas where we have identified flood risk,” Andrew Butt said.

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He said the same issue came about in bushfire season.

“We see this time and time again in a range of planning issues – are we willing to tell the development industry no?” he said.