...Just another disturbing story from the town of the “white shoe brigade” Brisbane style!

How incredibly foolish all this is. It seems very clear that if you build your home on a flood plain, sooner or later you will be flooded. Why should the rest of us be somehow be required to pay (by way of taxes, levies, insurance premiums etc) for your foolishness?

And what about the State Government and relevant councils who knowingly allow these situations to develop. And developers who make unconscionable money by purchasing flood prone property at low prices, and then developing it, and conveniently not mentioning the flood risk.

Clearly the State Government and the Councils have a profound obligation to produce flood maps. Vendors should be required by law to disclose exposure to flood risk. Buyers should be required to sign binding contracts that say that they acknowledge that they are exposed to flood risk, and that they are accepting the full consequences of any flood.

That will sort the issue out pretty quick.

Incidentally while Mirvac had – with only one previous loss – successfully sued some other recalcitrant Tennyson Reach buyers, it accepted Mrs. Dunworth’s ultimate win neither philosophically nor graciously. Rather, this company has now sought leave from the High Court to hear its appeal from the Court of Appeal decision.

Meanwhile only last week Queensland Premier Bligh belatedly announced that her government proposed to discuss with the Queensland Law Society and the Real Estate Institute of Queensland “the potential to incorporate flood mapping data” into standard residential sale contracts “pending the recommendation of the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry”.
- Tim O’Dwyer

Dog...

It is why Queensland has earned the pseudonym "Mexico". The place is a standing joke and always was!!

PS: At least I got something back out of the place, In the days of yore, I attended many protest marches under the BLF banner through the Brisbane city: At least we got to knock a few coppers around!

dos vedanya...Dan

Dog:

PPS:

...The white shoe brigade have taken over Brisbane tollways too. When I went up there to assist with building reconstruction last Feb, I got rorted by the now Nationally famous Queensland Toll Way system. Christ, it cost me hundreds of dollars to dig my way out of a failed e tag read of $1.40. All that through one of my rare moments when I actually helped somebody other than myself! Now all my mates gather at my place before they go to Brisbane asking advice on the Queensland toll: The only advice I can give, is to suggest a prayer before they leave. Its a cruel world in Queensland!!

Today's Courier Mail newspaper reports that Brisbane's Lord Mayor has referred to the State's Crime and Misconduct Commission the Council's $15million deal with Mirvac to acquire the developer's remaining flood-prone Tennyson Reach land and for Mirvac to construct a park on the land. This referral followed allegations raised by Seven News. Apparently the terms of the deal were subsequently changed when a valuation report made after the initial deal found that the land for which $6million was being paid had a pre-flood valuation of $9million. The Lord Mayor is reported as saying:"While I have found no evidence of wrong-doing...it is important that an independent investigation is conducted and the air is cleared." A Mirvac spokesman said the sale of the land was an independent arms-length transaction.
-Tim O'Dwyer

Mirvac’s application to the High Court for special leave to appeal has been refused.

Here's an interesting slant on buying Flood-affected properties in Brisbane:

http://www.apimagazine.com.au/blog/2012/02/yes-we-bought-a-flooded-property-%E2%80%93-what%E2%80%99s-the-big-deal/