A Greens Party activist was asked to leave the recent CSIRO flood community consultations amid claims the party was attempting to “game the system” in favour of nature-based solutions.

CSIRO Principal Scientist Dr Jai Vaze confirmed to Ballina News Daily that one member of the public was asked to leave the Woodburn session after already attending full days at both the Lismore and Ballina consultations and attempting to lobby other attendees.

“The consultations are run by FIR and NIMA. We welcome all views, but we don’t want anyone forcing people inside the room,” Dr Vaze said.

“If someone wants to campaign outside, that’s their choice — but inside we need to keep it fair.”

Lismore political activist and Facebook community moderator Mark Bailey — who has previously worked for both the ALP and the Nationals — publicly identified the person as Dr Luke Robinson, who recently ran as the Greens candidate for Page.

Mr Bailey alleged Dr Robinson and other Greens-aligned advocates tried to influence attendees to prioritise “nature-based solutions” over large-scale engineering projects.  Ballina News Daily has contacted Dr Luke Robinson for comment.

Tuckombil Canal controversy

Responding to concerns that an upgrade of the historic Tuckombil flood channel — first constructed in the late 1800s — had been left off the CSIRO’s shortlist, Dr Vaze said that was not the case.

He said it was not raised during the first round of consultations in 2022, but “at least four” people raised it directly with him at the recent Ballina session.

“If enough people say it should be included, it will be,” Dr Vaze said. “We can only work with the list given to us by councils and the community last time — but there’s always the option to add new ideas now. Everything with strong community support will be considered.”

The Richmond Cane Growers Association and the Ballina Peninsula Residents Association have both lodged detailed plans to upgrade the canal with mechanical floodgates to divert water during major floods. The cane growers’ submission, prepared immediately after the 2022 disaster for a NSW Government inquiry, argues the works could reduce flooding in South Ballina by up to 10 per cent.

Residents push for multiple diversions

Peninsula Residents Association secretary Kevin Loughrey — a retired engineer who has worked on flood-mitigation projects supports the Tuckombil upgrade as part of a broader network of diversions.

“You need the Tuckombil canal and at least three other diversions — at Boundary, Reedy and Keith Hall canals,” he said.

“We’re talking about enormous volumes of water. The challenge is to get rid of it as quickly as you can, and you can only do that with large diversions.”

Mr Loughrey also supports upstream flood-retention basins and the proposed Dunoon Dam, ideas Dr Vaze has said could in some scenarios reduce the need for major works on the lower floodplain, including levees around Ballina.

“If done properly, upstream works could act like baffles in a silencer,” Loughrey said.

“You could release water in a controlled fashion and avoid a ‘tsunami’ effect downstream.”

Process, timelines and transparency

Dr Vaze said the team has returned to Canberra to summarise submissions from the well-attended regional sessions to identify the options with the highest community support. 

Those preferences will be grouped into “bundles” that reflect local priorities aligned to previous major flood events.

The CSIRO team plans to return next month for a short “show-and-tell” to present the top community-backed bundles with council input. 

The agreed shortlist will then go to the Federal Government, after which the team will implement the options in the model, run scenarios and publish results by June 30 next year.

“We’ll report how many people attended each location, what percentage supported each option, and how those options were bundled. The community and councils will see exactly what was selected and why — and it will be fully transparent,” Dr Vaze said.