Anna Bligh's Flood Report

The 2010-11 Queensland Floods had significant impact on Queensland with their massive economic cost and loss of life. The floods occurred following prolonged periods of heavy rainfall between December 2010 and January 2011. They resulted in much of the state being inundated with water and had a massive impact on many people. These impacts included the deaths of 30 people, 78% of the state being declared a disaster zone, and over $5 billion in reconstruction costs—the most expensive natural disaster in Australia’s history (Queensland Flood
Commission of Inquiry, 2012, p.32). Because of this, the disaster resulted in significant national and international media attention (Giles, 2011). These impacts and attention created an imperative for an effective recovery attempt to occur. At the front of the battle against the destruction, Queensland’s premier at the time, Anna Bligh, was regarded as having provided inspirational leadership and was widely praised for her role in the response (Bussy and Paterson, 2012). However, although she appeared to be calm and in control, Bligh was facing a crisis of her own. At the time, her party—The Australian Labor Party
Specifically, it attempts to determine whether the response was politically motivated and how it impacted the result of the 2012 Queensland Election. The report is arranged as follows. Section 2 analyses whether the response was politically motivated by examining the spatial distribution of disaster payments. Section 2.3 analyses what impact the overall response to the disasters had on the results of the 2012 Queensland Election. Both of these sections begin with an explanation of the relevant background literature, then outline the methodology used to answer the questions, before ending with the results and a discussion of them. Section4 presents the report's conclusion and potential opportunities for future