Quilpie Shire Mayor Ben Hall is calling for an effective weather monitoring radar in South West Queensland as flood waters continue to devastate the region.
On 1 April Mayor Hall was also calling on the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to explain the lack of support being offered, and his decision to call a May election the day after entire townships were evacuated and horrific stock losses were suffered.
“When Alfred was at its height it was announced that a call on an election would be delayed because of that weather event, yet right in the middle of the worst flood in the history of Outback Queensland the Prime Minister called an election,” Cr Hall said.
“Our communities are already hurting, some farmers will undoubtedly go to the wall on the back of these stock losses. And the lack of response from the Australian Government has left everyone feeling like we don’t matter. To announce an election in the middle of such a monumental crisis beggars belief.
“It took too long for the Government to sign off on fodder drops for distressed, starving stock. We still have no acknowledgement from the Prime Minister of what’s happening out here, and no further support in the way of army deployment or anything else.
“At the very least we would expect all sides of Government to make an election commitment to a radar for South West Queensland to alleviate future catastrophic weather events hitting us without warning. There is currently no radar between Alice Springs and Charleville.
“I’m out in the community visiting our flood ravaged townships – the talk has been that communication via party telephone lines was better back in the 1974 floods than we have now in 2025. How can that be?
“All our phone comms went down for more than 24 hours and we have no radar. We literally fuel Australia via our resources and farming and yet our remoteness seems to make it a case of ‘out of site out of mind’ in this disaster.
“Meat prices will undoubtedly skyrocket nationally off the back of the millions of cattle and sheep that have sadly been lost – maybe people will care when it directly impacts them and they’re paying more for their steaks?
“In the meantime there are real people, and animals, suffering in horrific conditions in our own country with very little support. If we had had adequate radar systems for warning of what was to come the losses would be no where near as high as they are,” Hall contined.
Before this historic level of flooding hit the region, the Bureau of Meteorology predicted (without reliable radar technology) that South West Queensland would receive five to six mls of rain Sunday evening. This rain would have been a welcome relief for land holders in the region who were on the brink of drought.
Instead 500+ mls of rain has fallen in the last of March week leading to the historic flood levels that continue to be felt as a river of devastation makes it way through South West Queensland.
The mayor said no forward planning for stock movement was undertaken because there was no accurate warning that a devastating rain event was going to hit South West Queensland.
