Melbourne Water is committed to an independent and transparent review process.

The Maribyrnong River Flood Review was undertaken by an independent Review Panel. Former Federal and Victorian Supreme Court Judge Tony Pagone AM was appointed to lead the independent review into the Maribyrnong River flood event.

Public submissions to the Maribyrnong River Flood Review were open from 17 January to 17 March 2023. Submissions were invited from community and stakeholders wanting to provide input to be considered in relation to the matters included in the Terms of Reference of the independent flood review. A total of 63 submissions were received and were provided to the Review Lead.

The work of the independent panel commenced with a tour of impacted areas and preliminary meetings were held with some submitters in early May. The panel then conducted further meetings, consultations and site visits and reviewed all relevant information.

In July, the Independent Panel held public consultations. The Panel heard from interested parties and members of the community detailing their experiences of the floods. Melbourne Water also attended and participated in the consultations, including speaking to our submission and hearing from flood affected residents.

In accordance with the Terms of Reference, once the work of the Independent Review Panel was complete, Melbourne Water submitted the Panel’s report to the Victorian Government and publicly released the report.

Terms of Reference

The Maribyrnong River Flood Review was guided by a Terms of Reference. These provided more information on the review process, the scope of the review and the role of the independent Review Panel. Key dates in the Terms of Reference were updated in an addendum.

As set out in the Terms of Reference, the Review was undertaken by the Maribyrnong River Flood Event Independent Review Panel (The Review Panel).

Former Federal and Victorian Supreme Court Judge Tony Pagone AM was appointed to lead the review. Mr Pagone is a highly respected former judicial officer and King’s Counsel whose experience includes serving as Chair of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety in 2019.

The Review Panel included members with skills in hydrology and hydraulic engineering, climate change and natural hazard risk management and town planning.

The Maribyrnong River Flood Review was an independent technical review that reported on the causes and contributors to the flood event in the urban catchment, including:

The following matters were outside the scope of the review:

• any specific policy responses
• future potential mitigation measures such as additional flood walls, levees or dams
• overall emergency responses including warnings and evacuation procedures
• flood recovery
• broad planning matters including planning decisions, frameworks and processes.

The Maribyrnong River Flood Review focused on the urban catchment of the Maribyrnong River. The urban catchment of the Maribyrnong River is defined as the parts of the river within Melbourne's Urban Growth Boundary (marked by the purple line in the map below).

The map below features layers highlighting the Maribyrnong River, Flemington Racecourse and the Urban Growth Boundary.
You can switch these layers on and off by clicking on the icon in the top left of the map.