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Two recently released comprehensive reports contain no good news for the UTas
proposal to move its University
campus from Newnham to the Flood Zone of the Inveresk tidal flats:
(i) The
North and South Esk Rivers Flood Modelling and Mapping Updates
-
Volume 1: Technical Report and Volume 2:
Flood Mapping
–
by BMT Consultants,
commis
sioned by the City of Launceston and released in January 2019.
(ii) An Evaluative Review of the UTas Inveresk Precinct Redevelopment
–
commissioned by the Northern Tasmanian
Network Partners & Associates, authored by Mr Chris Penna, and
released in March 2
019.
Available on the CoL website, the BMT Reports
are
based on the latest flood (2016)
,
sea level rise and climate change
data,
and
make worrying projections
. The reports
warn that Launceston’s much trumpeted reconstructed flood levees
are no longer cap
able of protecting Invermay and the City from their designed 0.5% (1:200 year) flood event, and that
the level of protection is now halved to just 1% (1:100 year), assuming the levees function properly. The report predicts
that a current 1:200 year flood w
ould well overtop the levees and that Invermay would be subject to flood waters 2m to
5m deep at Hazard Class 5 level
–
ie
Unsafe for vehicles and people. All buildings vulnerable to structural damage.
Some less robust buildings subject to failure.
Apart from
its
low
-
key website, the C
ity
o
f
L
aunceston
has been modestly silent about the BMT reports, although it
would be expected that part of its civic duty is to make Invermay/City residents and businesses fully aware of the
implications of the report
s. The C
ity
o
f
L
aunceston
and UTas have similarly disregarded several commissioned expert
environmental reports (involving seismic, geotechnical and flood/tidal factors), from the 1990s onwards about
Inveresk/Invermay, that all highlight the inadvisability
and dangers of developments at Inveresk, especially expensive
major projects that will house large numbers of people. Key aspects of these commissioned reports and others of
relevance, are describ
ed in the Evaluative Review
, together with a per
tinent sec
tion that highlights
the reports’ advices
about the problems/issues related to development at Inveresk.
Any content and key messages from
this library shelf of reports were conveniently not included in the original 2016
UTas marketing document upon which
funding commitments of $200m were made by Federal and State governments
and upon which the C
ity
o
f
L
aunceston
gifted Inveresk and Willis
St land parcels to UTas. The
Evaluative Review
finds
that no substantial, evidenced, environmental, economic or social
cases have been publicly made by UTas or the City
o
f
L
aunceston
to validate the Inveresk Precinct Redevelopment. The promised intents of UTas
to both maintain and
develop its existing Launceston based tertiary education offerings and to create and promote a range of 2
-
year industry
related associate degree course
are strongly supported by the
Evaluative Review
. Nevertheless the vital provision
of
quality University courses for the Nor
th has been disappearing. The
Evaluative Review
clearly do
cuments the
inadequacies of the
2016
marketing document and associated processes that managed to gain both political support
and Government funding. As UTas
has acknowledged that the cost of the original proposal has increased markedly and
the projected number of additional students has decreased significantly, the funding and land gifts were provided under
quite inaccurate assumptions. As the project sought m
ore than $100m of Federal money, it should have been subject to
much earlier stages of assessment by
the `independent’
Infrastructure Australia (IA). This did not occur, and the final
Business Case was only submitted to IA on 31 Jan 2019. It is now under e
valuation, although rationalised approval is
anticipated as the Federal funding has
already
been handed over
to the State. The
Evaluative Review
shows that a lack
of due process and due diligence has been a consistent, notable part of the entire project si
nce its inception.
The
Evaluative Review
also demonstrates that the Launceston Community has been, and continues to be, intimidated
into accepting the UTas relocation proposal, or face the threat from UTas that it would withdraw or reduce its local
Univer
sity presence. Similarly it appears that IA is under political pressure to approve the Northern Transformation
Program. Such intimidatory pressures seem to have displaced rational assessments, and in most workplaces such
behaviour could be labelled as bull
ying and deemed unacceptable.
Additionally
(i) the reconstructed levees have never been fully signed
-
off after professional inspection, with both the
concrete levees and the complete system still awaiting such formal approval as required
(ii) the risk of
seismic action has
not been considered
(iii) parking and traffic congestion issues have not been adequately addressed (iv) there has been
no comparative cost
-
benefit analysis of redevelopment at Newnham.
Media Conference
Location
: Boland St Nth Esk Levee o
pposite Willis St carpark
11am
The Evaluative Review, the BMT reports, and a range of other relevant reports/communications are at:
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