February 11, 2022
The Federal Government has agreed to to pay the remaining $600 million to fix Paradise Dam.
This follows an announcement earlier this week by the State Government that it would stump up $600 million towards the $1.2 billion rebuild, which will restore the dam wall to its original height.
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said the Federal Government’s investment would ensure the rebuild gets done.
“Farmers in the region have spent the last two years in limbo, worrying if they’ll have the water they need to support and grow their businesses into the future,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.
“It’s all well and good for the Queensland Labor Government to say they’ll fix the dam, but the funding they’ve committed falls well short of what’s required to complete the job.
“Committing enough money to half repair the dam doesn’t allay the fears of locals, which is why the Liberal and Nationals Government is putting the remaining money on the table to get the job done.
“Our investment will help provide the water security the region needs while supporting 250 construction jobs and unlocking new and expanded opportunities for farmers and businesses.”
Member for Flynn Ken O’Dowd said the issues with Paradise Dam were a result of the State Government’s mismanagement.
“Labor built it, then broke it. They have now only committed enough money to half repair it,” Mr O’Dowd said.
Member for Nanango – and Opposition spokesperson for Water and the Construction of Dams – Deb Frecklington welcomed the Federal funding announcement.
“It still defies belief to think this funding could have gone to a new Level 5 hospital for Bundaberg or to dual-carriage the Maryborough-Bundaberg section of the Bruce Highway, instead of going towards fixing the State Government’s own mess,” she said.
Related articles:
- MPs Label Dam Plan As ‘Stunt’
- $600m Allocated To Paradise Dam
- MP Pushes For Action On Dam Wall
- Dam Uncertainty For Peanuts
- Dam Risk Reduced: Sunwater
- LNP Calls For Halt To Dam Work
- Dam Work To Start In April
- Dam Inquiry Moves Into Final Phase
- Free Water From Paradise Dam
- Dam To Be ‘Lowered Not Demolished’
- Dam Hearings To Be Livestreamed
- Paradise Dam Inquiry Begins
- Ex-Judge To Head Dam Inquiry
- Petition Demands Dam Reports
- Push For Dam Inquiry Fails
- Water Releases Begin From Dam
- LNP MPs Demand Dam Answers
- LNP Demands Inquiry Into Dam
The LNP politicians seem to be deliberately ignoring the fact that an independent inquiry commissioned by Sunwater found structural and stability issues in the dam wall. I guess the LNP believers would have preferred to cross fingers and pray that it didn’t fail? Do you really think the State Government would have wanted to spend all this money on lowering and then raising the dam wall? Maybe, just maybe, they didn’t want to risk the lives of all the people living downstream.
Spot on, Don’t like Swimming.
For far too long the regions have been flooded with pro-LNP/PHON spiels that rely on belief-based politics.
The LNP in Qld and NSW at the least, KNEW of the damage to the dam as far back as 2013-14 when the LNP held the MASSIVE majority (Labor had just seven seats).
The Qld/NSW LNP knew because, at our expense, the Queensland lot commissioned a report by NSW, telling of the damage and the twice flooding events.
The Qld LNP knew because we then paid some $22 million for the LNP to tell us they had “fixed” the dam as spruiked by a number of LNP MPs.
LNP continues to blame Labor despite CLEARLY their $22 million spend failing to “fix” the damages caused. Sunwater, that manages the dams, reports and or recommendations were AFTER the LNP “fix”.
All the rantings by the LNP boosted their perceived efforts whilst tainting the ALP, despite the report itself telling of the risk to human life should the dam fail.
The ALP wore all the politicising and public perception / negativity to secure the wall first. The most recent rain/flooding could well have ended in utter tragic results.
[Edited]
Gosh, this statement even though it has a question mark is not very nice: “I guess the LNP believers would have preferred to cross fingers and pray that it didn’t fail?”
A few questions:
* Just why was it considered a possibility of failing and what made it so dangerous?
* Were there shortcuts taken in the construction and if so why?
* Who commissioned the building of the dam? (an answer to this could say a lot)
* Has there been any believable official blame laid yet? If not, then why not?
Obviously, something went wrong or something wasn’t done right to a proper standard of safe construction. Safety is of a very high requirement for a piece of infrastructure such as a major water storage and that piece of infrastructure needs to have a long long life with the required safety. By the way, I once considered that the site of the wall should have contributed to a very safe end product. (Was I wrong?)
I would suspect that the commissioning and building and the expected inspections during the progress of the job left a lot to be desired; probably one problem would be the lack of expertise and experience because they haven’t had any practise building dams for many years!
@Don’t Like Swimming; I would like to see your views on this subject as there is a lot of local guff circulating there re what the Govt apparatchiks are saying about it all.
By the way, I am NOT a member of the LNP; I gave them the big flick over 40 years ago.
But I am an interested person who spent an amount of time attending meetings etc. pre-Paradise Dam days and I did wander around the site long before the dam was finally okayed.
The desperate need for productive water is growing daily and our Govt here just doesn’t get it! And that is so very sad! The lack of water for our ever expanding “domestic” population is becoming a worry and water cannot be “pinched” from the productive ag sector!
Water is critical for life AND our local economy.
Goodonya, Disgruntled, for quitting the LNP. Personally, I’ve never been a member of any party. I can think of better things to do than spending all my time watching my back.
If you want to know why I reckon the dam needed fixing take a look at this report published here a long while back. In it, you’ll see a mention of the NSW Public Works Report (independent) which you can download and read for yourself:
https://southburnett.com.au/news2/2019/10/01/lnp-demands-inquiry-into-dam/