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Government inaction in the face of a warming climate, developer greed and poor planning are to blame for the catastrophic impacts of recent floods in New South Wales, argues Ben Radford.
Evacuation or abandonment of floodplains is inevitable. Lismore’s voluntary house purchase scheme is aimed at removing flood-prone structures inside the area prone to 1 in 20 year floods. Despite efforts like this, floodplain withdrawal has only succeeded a handful of times – and those gains are often quickly erased.
People feel more secure knowing there’s a levee nearby - but this can backfire, leading to more development on floodplains. Australia needs to tackle the incentives behind these risky developments.