Mayor calls for critical funding to modernise SES depot

Published 06 September 2024

City of Moreton Bay today called for a critical funding injection into the Deception Bay SES Depot and Emergency Operations Centre to support the rapidly growing City.

The current, community-built facility, located on Old Bay Road, faces barriers to its daily operations, including storage issues, recruitment constraints and outdated facilities and no longer meets operational or training demands for the City.

Mayor Peter Flannery said the dire state of the 1985 ‘shed’ is a blight on the otherwise outstanding performance of the award-winning local SES which has to service a Council area that is the third largest in Australia.

“The Deception Bay SES Group is in the top 2% of busiest SES groups in Queensland and the City has had a 182% increase in SES service requests over the year, yet they are working from a poor quality shed - the City of Moreton Bay should matter more!

“This facility supports over 80,000 residents in the immediate area in addition to being a base for deployments across the City and Queensland when disaster strikes our community.

“Last year alone, the Deception Bay SES Group directly answered more than 250 requests for assistance in their primary response area as well as working across 3 large scale weather events locally resulting in over 500 requests for assistance from Moreton Bay residents, including the flooding at the beginning of 2024.

“Moreton Bay SES and Deception Bay Group also provided a large amount of support over multiple deployments of SES members, assets, and resources to, Cairns, Cooktown, Mossman, Port Douglas, and Townsville in the states north and Scenic Rim, Logan, and Gold Coast in the states south during last summer on top concurrent local operations.

“As we move into severe weather season, and on the back of climate change and the relentless pace of emergencies and disasters such as the severe flooding and storm events we experienced earlier in the year, this is now desperate.

The Deception Bay SES Group is part of the broader Moreton Bay SES Group with a cohort of more than 270 volunteers.

“Across City of Moreton Bay, the SES Group has managed approximately 25 large scale events in the last 5 years,” Mayor Flannery said.

“Just this week, the Moreton Bay SES Group won 2024 Unit/Group of the Year and the Deception Bay SES Unit/Group was State SES Unit/Group of the Year for 2023.

“The team are doing extraordinary things, but capital funding investment by the State is needed so they can continue to ably support our community.

“Per capita, City of Moreton Bay is the most significant supporter of SES in Queensland. No local government gives more than we do as a Council to their SES Unit.

“We want to work in partnership with the State to deliver first class SES facilities and have shown this through Council’s commitment of over $3 million already. 

“We need the political parties to step up and support this team of critical volunteers with an ongoing financial commitment.

“The building is shovel ready. We own the land, we’ve done the scoping, and we’ve done the plans including renders.

“We have committed 50/50 to fund this critical SES Depot and Emergency Operations Centre.

“Council has allocated $3.75 million to the redevelopment in the 2024-25 budget. Council has already committed over $300,000 in design and development costs. Plus, annually Council continues to commit over $650,000 of SES operational expenditure.

“As our population rapidly grows, and based on our large area, that includes areas of severe fire risk, coastal issues and flooding hazards, we need to ensure Moreton Bay SES continues to lead in SES service delivery.

“This will also ensure not only Moreton Bay communities are protected as they should be during their times of need but all of Queensland when they need additional SES support

“In the last 2.5 years, the Moreton Bay SES has only had 8 weeks, and not concurrently, where an SES team has not answered at least one request for assistance locally or for deployment elsewhere in the state or Australia.

“The volunteers’ selfless commitment and dedication to their community, and fellow citizens, should be rewarded by ensuring their facilities and fleet are worthy of them.”

The proposed Deception Bay SES Depot and Emergency Operations Centre redevelopment will transform the depot into a nation leading and one-of-a-kind facility which includes:

• Creation of a modern, purpose-built training facility, enabling training in high risk activities.
• 9-bay vehicle garage including three double depth drive through bays.
• New shared expanded carpark with the Dragons Football Club.
• Accommodation and support services.
• Regeneration of koala habitat.

As one of Australia's fastest growing local government areas, with a population set to double to 1 million people in the next 30 years, City of Moreton Bay matters.

It matters to those lucky enough to live here and for our businesses based here, so it should matter to politicians too.

One in ten Queensland voters live in City of Moreton Bay.

City of Moreton Bay needs its fair share of funding so we can future-proof our city and ensure it's a place where our community, economy, lifestyles and environment prosper together.

For too long, City of Moreton Bay has been underfunded by successive state and federal governments.