Louise and Don Cross bought their land in Bundalong in 2024 knowing there was a 2022 flood overlay on a tiny section on a corner of their block.
“We did our due diligence and went ahead, and in January 2025 we submitted our building application,” Louise said.
“GBCMA said ‘no’, that the floor level had to be 1700mm above the proposed flood level.”
The couple made accommodations, raising the slab from 300mm to 500mm, hired a barrister and expert flood management engineer from Melbourne, and appealed the decision with the Buildings Appeal Board of Victoria.
In December 2025, the appeals board found in their favour.
“We would have lost a lot of money if we didn’t win this,” Louise said.
“Nowhere has it been adopted yet, so we couldn’t work out why they could do this ... bureaucrats appear to not care about the ramifications for ordinary people.”
According to the final determination, Goulbourn Murray Catchment Authority did not consent to the application primarily because it would result in danger to life, health and safety of the occupants.
The claims were counteracted in expert evidence from Carolyn Tsioulas, an engineer specialising in flood risk management.
Ms Tsioulas’ opinion was that with the number of days warning to allow for evacuation, and a first floor as additional refuge, the overall risk rating to life, health and safety was “low to very low” with zero risk to occupants.
The appeals board found that the Corowa, Howlong, Mulwala Flood Study specifically stated that flood levels on the Victorian side had not been verified, and that the study was in its early stages and had not been through a full public consultation process.
Barrister, Tom Vasilopoulos specialises in complex building and planning issues and said the new flood levels had been rushed through with minimal community consultation.
“No-one has had time to do anything about it,” he said.
“Building owners aren’t even aware it’s even taking place and they’ll only find out when they try to build or make additions.”
Mr Vasilopoulos also warned that homeowners could have insurance claims refused for lack of disclosure because they failed to let insurers know their property is in a flood area.
The new flood levels have not yet been incorporated into Moira Shire council’s planning scheme and CEO, Matthew Morgan said the council had asked GBCMA to clarify the process they will go through, the level of community consultation and the timing to declare new flood levels.
GBCMA Floodplain Implementation Manager, Joel Leister told Yarrawonga Chronicle they would be engaging with affected landowners and the community as part of a process to declare 1% AEP flood levels but offered no timeframe.
