Staff writer
A group of business people from the Lismore Alliance has welcomed the release of the CSIRO Northern Rivers Resilience Initiative final report and supports the flood mitigation measures.
The report confirms that those mitigation measures could reduce flood heights across the entire region.
Simon Stahl is chair of the Lismore Alliance and chief executive of the Casino Food Company.
“Four years of rigorous, independent, government-funded research has given this region what it has never had before – credible proof that flood mitigation works here,” Mr Stahl said.
This opinion was not necessarily supported at the CSIRO community meetings in Kyogle and Woodburn.
The Northern Rivers region generates $44.4billion in annual economic output and supports more than 123,000 jobs. Every major flood event puts that output, those jobs and the businesses behind them at risk, the Lismore Alliance said.
“Flood risk is not just a community safety issue – it is the single biggest constraint on the economic future of this region,” Mr Stahl said.
“When businesses cannot get affordable insurance, when investors look elsewhere, when workers choose not to move here because of flood risk – the entire regional economy suffers.”
The Lismore Alliance welcomes the combined $3million commitment from the federal and state governments to commence feasibility work arising from the CSIRO report, and calls on both governments to begin that work without delay.
“Three million dollars for a feasibility study is a start and we welcome it,” said Stahl.
“But we want to be clear that the business community will be watching how quickly this moves and what comes out of it. We cannot afford for this to become another process that takes years and produces another document. The science is done. The clock is ticking. We need to see this move at pace.”
During recent CSIRO community briefing sessions, the question of compensation for affected landholders was raised by farmers.
The Alliance said it supports fair and proper compensation being built into the feasibility process from the outset.
“We hear the concerns of landholders in the upper catchment and we take them seriously,” Mr Stahl said. 
“Fair compensation for any land use impacts must be part of this process. These communities are being asked to be part of a solution that protects everyone downstream. That deserves proper recognition and proper recompense.”
On the question of nature based solutions, the Lismore Alliance is clear. The Alliance and its members have been supportive of restoration efforts across the Northern Rivers. But nature-based solutions are not a substitute for engineering solutions when it comes to reducing flood heights in major events. The CSIRO report is clear on this. The Lismore Alliance agrees.
“We are strong supporters of nature-based solutions and we always have been,” said Stahl. “They genuinely matter for the health of our rivers and our landscape. But we have to be honest with our community. Nature-based solutions do not lower flood heights in a major event. The CSIRO says so. And after a $16billion flood, our community deserves engineering solutions that actually keep the water down.”
The Lismore Alliance calls on both state and federal governments to move the feasibility study forward immediately.