Thousands of homes could have been saved from major floods that swept through Queensland in early March had the government acted on a 2014 report to build additional defences against flooding. The study was put together by Queensland’s then-Department of Energy and Water Supplies, following the devastating 2011 floods that inundated Toowoomba, Ipswich, and large swathes of Queensland’s capital city Brisbane. The disaster claimed 33 lives, affected 200,000 people, and caused around AU$2 billion of damage. Campbell Newman, the former premier of Queensland, commissioned the report and had planned for further feasibility studies into construction work before losing the 2015 election. The incoming Labor Party government then shelved the report, and are now investigating new options to upgrade the existing Somerset and Wivenhoe Dams (major water supplies to the Greater Brisbane area), which must be completed by October 2035. During the recent 2022 flood disasters, which inundated major population centres on …