Recovery Programs

The flood recovery program, jointly funded by the Victorian and Australian governments, is drawing to a close. The program has been extended until March 2026 to enable finalisation of activities, and this will mark a transition in the type of recovery support available.

What will change?

The Community Recovery Committee (CRC) has concluded in its current format. Community participants will still participate quarterly meetings next year to finalise key priority activities and maintain oversight over issues that matter to the community, including prevention. This marks the conclusion of the committee as a formal advisory committee.

Despite funding changes, Council understand that recovery does not have a clear timeframe and recovery needs are ongoing. There is also a need for more community preparedness activities tailored to the local community context.

Community Recovery Newsletters will be issued quarterly next year, as opposed to monthly.

Staff changes

Recovery staff will also change – there will no longer be a dedicated Flood Recovery Manager and Community Flood Recovery Officer from March 2026.

To acknowledge this, a dedicated position has been created to support the recovery transition and long-term resilience programs.

This role will also work closely with the Maribyrnong Neighbourhood Flood Network to support a community leadership model of sharing risk and preparedness information.

Social connection activities will continue, led by the Maribyrnong Neighbourhood Flood Network. 

As part of the flood recovery efforts, free Maribyrnong Aquatic Centre (MAC) memberships have been provided to community impacted by the 2022 flood. These free memberships expired in December 2025.

Due to positive feedback about the physical and mental health benefits of the program, MAC memberships will be provided at a 50% discount for 12 months after the free memberships expire.

To process a discounted membership, please attend in person at the MAC reception during business hours. 

We look forward to continuing to welcome you at the MAC.

We Watched our River Rise, a book written by young people from Maribyrnong, was launched on 14 October at the Maribyrnong library.

The idea for this book came from the Maribyrnong Community Strengths and Opportunities Workshop. It was born from the desire to tell their collective stories and enable young people to contribute to the story in a way that empowers them.

This book was created by six young people. Over four workshops, they shared their experiences in a safe, supported environment, selected the characters, and made content decisions about what should go on each page. They also worked with the illustrator, Tam Bower, to ensure the imagery effectively tells the story.

The book was written by young authors from the Maribyrnong community based on their lived experiences to capture their stories and give them agency to share them in a safe and supportive environment.

The event featured a reading of the book by the young authors and signed copies for distribution.

Congratulations to the young authors and thank you to our project partners.

Where to find the book

We Watched our River Rise is now available to borrow across all five Maribyrnong library branches, to read online here, or can be purchased directly from our partners at 100 Story Building here.

This project was delivered with 100 Story Building and supported by child counselling experts from cohealth to enable a safe and supportive environment. It was jointly funded by the Victorian and Australian governments through the Community Recovery Hubs program.

Tai Chi is a great way to relax and improve your overall health and wellbeing. Classes are free, and will be run by experienced instructor Alfred Ng

Drop in to join a class, registrations are not required

When: 9:30am every Saturday

Where: Maribyrnong Community Centre, 9 Randall Street, Maribyrnong

Comfortable clothing is recommended

Flood to Flourish is a project that aims to find ways for communities, Councils, flood authorities and industry to work together to strengthen community flood resilience.  The project will co-design better ways for communities to play more active, ongoing roles in collaborative flood risk management and resilience strengthening.

Monash Sustainable Development Institute is partnering with local governments, floodplain managers, emergency services, industry, and most importantly, communities themselves, to deliver the project. 

Three partner communities are the focus of the project.  The Maribyrnong community, a regional Victorian community and a rural community in northern New South Wales.  The idea is that each community will be able to learn from each other.  Maribyrnong City Council are a project partner. 

Funding is being provided through the Australian Government’s Disaster Ready Fund.  $1.4m has been secured to conduct the first phase of Flood to Flourish.

The “methods and tools” that the project for communities and these other flood stakeholders to:

• Help everyone get on the same page about what’s most important to protect and the level of risk people want to accept.
• Determine shared priorities for flood management based on what they care about most.
• Design actions that work for everyone, together.
• Cement relationships so that these conversations can be ongoing.

  Phase 1 of Flood to Flourish is kicking off in June 2025 and runs through to October of 2026.  This phase is all about co-design — building trusted relationships with partner communities, understanding current flood management practices, and piloting early tools and methods.

  Dealing with flood risk and strengthening community resilience goes far beyond any single agency. It requires extensive collaboration that brings together governments, agencies, industry and importantly communities. But the reality is that, for a lot of complex reasons, communities don’t usually have a seat at the table when it comes to ongoing flood risk management. 

  The long-term ambition of Flood to Flourish is that community voice has a seat at the table alongside other key stakeholders in this space including developers, Councils, insurance companies.

  What the project will entail in Maribyrnong

  The team will be doing interviews and engaging with community members and groups to test our assumptions about the process. These will be done in ways that suit you.  They will also be talking to other key government and industry stakeholders

  They want to align with other programs to avoid duplication. They are very conscious of consultation fatigue and consultation that doesn’t lead anywhere.

  Later in the project we’ll be testing the methods and tools with community members and industry stakeholders.

  What you’ll gain from getting involved

• Have your voice heard and help give communities a seat at the table: share your local knowledge and lived experience to shape new ways of working that will enable communities to play active, ongoing roles in flood risk management, priority setting, and resilience strengthening
• Strengthen local capabilities: work alongside other community members and government agencies on flood risk and resilience to understand the Maribyrnong’s flood context, to measure existing community resilience, and to develop a shared vision for the future. 
• Connect and learn: connect with other communities around Australia to share what’s worked, explore new ideas and learn together.