“That’s going to end up shit one day because people just don’t care,” Mr Farrell said. Perhaps they are beginning to care. Two hundred metres away, the first step in a 15-year plan to reduce the risk of billion-dollar flood damage to RAAF Amberley, the Ipswich CBD and thousands of rural and city blocks from Moogerah Dam to Goodna began on Tuesday with $2 million to improving the Bremer River catchment. The plan includes a Bremer River Education Program. The Bremer River, which enters the Brisbane River at Ipswich, is the worst-conditioned river in south-east Queensland.

Healthy Land and Water, the water-quality body that monitors SEQ’s rivers, rated the Bremer Catchment a D-minus in 2017, down from a D-plus in 2014. And it is getting worse. Since 2016, the Bremer has declined because of an increase in pollutant loads and worsening estuarine water quality. The $2 million comes from 10 councils affiliated with the Council of Mayors (SEQ) and they are now looking for partnerships from other levels of government for further funding. The project is part of the Council of Mayors' Resilient Rivers Initiative, which begins revegetation of specific sections of the Bremer River, to reduce sediment flow and slow the flow of flood waters.

The Bremer River’s 2032-square-kilometre catchment includes one of Australia’s leading defence bases, RAAF Base Amberley, which is still at risk of flooding. “The contribution of RAAF Base Amberley to the Greater Brisbane economy has the potential to grow to $1.2 billion by 2019-22,” the Bremer River Action plan points out. “Flooding in parts of the Bremer River Catchment also creates a risk for the community in low-lying areas and puts some high-value infrastructure such as the Ipswich CBD and RAAF Base Amberley at risk.” The RAAF base is isolated whenever the Cunningham Highway is cut.

Agriculture from Ipswich out to the Scenic Rim region accounted for 1885 jobs in 2015 and produced $1.16 billion in fruit and vegetables. The gross regional product of Ipswich, which was heavily flooded in 2011 and 2013, was $8.96 billion in 2015-16. Scenic Rim mayor Greg Christensen (left), Council of Mayors chairman Graham Quirk and Ipswich administrator Greg Chemello launch the $2 million plan to repair the Bremer River. Credit:Jane Pinder. Brisbane lord mayor Graham Quirk, who chairs the Council of Mayors, said the $2 million was the start of a three-year plan for a “much longer game”. That longer game is to restore the stability of catchments. First cab off the rank is the Bremer River.

"It is important not only for its own catchment, but also to the Brisbane River and to Moreton Bay,” Cr Quirk said. “Keeping the silt on the land - particularly in the agricultural areas - rather than in the waterways, is what this is all about.” The plan promises two bank stabilisation projects on the Bremer River by 2021 at Ironpot Creek and Bundamba Creek. Ipswich administrator Greg Chemello said river catchments did not follow local government boundaries. “The land management practices in the city of Ipswich and Scenic Rim affect the quality of the Bremer River, that effects the Brisbane River and that affects Moreton Bay,” Mr Chemello said.

“So it is great to see those local governments, plus Redlands, Moreton Bay and the Gold Coast all part of this picture to together improve the quality of the catchment.” Scenic Rim mayor Greg Christensen said his council had about "70 to 80 kilometres" of badly eroded river banks along the Bremer. In the past 12 months, a group of 10 landowners “at the very headwaters of the Bremer River” had decided to control bank erosion on their properties. “They have decided to start the journey of restoration down the watercourse,” Cr Christensen said. He said the Scenic Rim council, which represented the agricultural areas of the Bremer Catchment, encouraged the specific objectives of the plan.