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Brisbane ratepayers could be forced to fork out about half-a-million dollars for a potentially life-saving flood alert system after Canberra rejected another request for funding, a frustrated lord mayor says.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Enviromon service – which provides real-time safety alerts and data on creek levels during severe weather – will end in mid-2026, when councils will then be required to pay for their own technology.
“They’ve been consistent in saying it’s not our problem,” a visibly agitated Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner announced during a Brisbane City Council meeting.
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner says he will appeal to federal Labor members in Brisbane.Credit: Catherine Strohfeldt
“This is just blatant cost-shifting from a federal government agency onto local councils.”
Schrinner said the council could continue to rely on a free service through the BOM website, but emergency alerts would move from every five minutes to every 15 minutes – a timeframe he believed was not good enough for a city such as Brisbane.
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“That difference is significant,” Schrinner said.
“We’re simply saying the BOM should provide a like-for-like service.”
After a request was rejected in 2024, the council again applied for federal funding for its own system through the Disaster Ready Fund in April. It was rejected last week.
The setback came as BOM was widely condemned, after the body spent almost $100 million on a flawed new website heavily criticised by the public and politicians.
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Enviromon has been offered to all councils for free for nearly three decades through the weather bureau.
According to Schrinner, the first-year cost of a new system would be about $500,000.
The lord mayor said Brisbane City Council would appeal to federal Labor members in Brisbane including Kara Cook, Madonna Jarrett, Renee Coffey and Milton Dick to support government funding.
“We need their help to make sure that their residents get access to the data.”
Three alerts were sent out during the severe storm on Monday this week, which the council said highlighted the importance of the system.
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