From the “Queensland Country Life”


BY GRAHAM FULLER
14/02/2002

THE first major dam to be built in Queensland for more than a decade is slowly edging towards fruition.

In the meantime, farmers already desperate for precious water are fielding the flak from outraged conservationists who believe the project signals a return to Queensland’s much-derided dam-building culture of yesteryear.

At issue is the proposed Paradise Dam, located some 80km south west of Bundaberg, or 20km north-west of Biggenden. Early estimates suggest the overall capital cost of the project will be in the order of $168m.

But the ‘knock-on’ effects will, it is envisaged, be far-reaching. Analysts believe the 300,000ML dam, along with other water projects in the region, will boost agricultural production by more than $1b per annum.

By any yardstick, these are high stakes for a cropping region that has suffered the damaging effects of a near-catastrophic series of drought-affected years - but garnered precious little publicity for its plight.

The 40-year-old Paradise Dam proposal is back in the limelight because the Federal Government last week moved to give a nod of approval to the Environmental Impact Statement needed before construction on the Burnett River can proceed.

Member for Hinkler Paul Neville, speaking on behalf of the Federal Environment Minister Dr David Kemp, stressed that nods in favour of EIS’ at both State and Federal levels did not signal approval for the entire project.

“The next step is for the State Government to confirm it will indeed build a dam at Paradise and to confirm the details of size, cost, funding method and timeframe for construction,” he said.

He has a point. Self-professed ‘media-tart’ Premier Beattie dusted down and then donned his trusty Akubra before heading to the cane fields of Bundaberg at an early stage of his subsequent election triumph.

The intention was clear - to shore up jobs in the district with talk of new dams, enlarged ports and fresh job opportunities. This latter point remains an especially sensitive issue for Mr Beattie because he has failed to shake the odium surrounding his stated objective of reigning-in the State’s unemployment levels to five percent.

All-up, and as a result of the proposed infrastructure changes, some 900 jobs may be created - certainly during the construction phase.

At the time, almost a year ago to the day, the talk was of guaranteeing farmers an annual yield of 130,000ML of water. More than anything the district’s cropping industries are looking for certainty.

The Premier’s whistle-stop tour of the depressed region at the time left no one in any doubt that he personally planned to champion a special 10-point plan aimed at re-vitalising what many continue to see as an economically-depressed region.

As it turned out, Hinkler was retained by the Federal National Party at the last general election - hence Mr Neville’s cock-a-hoop statement that the Canberra-based Coalition had given the Paradise Dam EIS the green light in little more than a month of deliberation.

Meanwhile, the company established by the Queensland Government in June 2001 to secure better water supplies for the region, Burnett Water, remains bullish about the dam.

“Vegetable, citrus, sugar, pork, dairy and feedlot industries, and projects such as the proposed chicory processing facility, will all benefit from the additional water supplies the dam will produce,” company director Mike Montefiore said.

As well, he said the Burnett River dam was one of four projects that had received Federal Government approval during the past four months.

This is a reference to developments at Walla, Eidsvold, Barlil and Jones weirs. These too, will syphon off precious flows - a point rounded on by the Queensland Conservation Council which has vigorously opposed the dam at the old gold mining site of Paradise.

The QCC’s rivers project officer Ms Kerryn O’Conor says the catchment already has more than 30 major dams and weirs. Should Paradise Dam be built, then an additional 45km of the lower Burnett River would be dammed.

As well, the QCC accuses both State and Federal governments of ignoring “numerous reports” that confirm the dam will be an environmental and economic disaster.

“While other States and nations have bitten the bullet and accepted that the era of dam development is dead, Queensland confirms its ‘un-smart’ credentials by pushing forward with this lunacy,” Ms O’Conor said.

The QCC wants all Government reports that previously had been withheld, and which would allow “the Queensland people” to determine whether the dam was viable and sustainable, to be released.

Cane farmers, however, remain jubilant but are keeping their fingers crossed that the long sought-after dam finally will get the go-ahead.

The secretary of the local Australian Cane Farmers Association, Gavin Lerch said that what was good for the whole community, also was good for the whole community.

And Bundaberg ACFA chairman, Errol Zunker, underscored the importance of the multiplier effect the project would have through to other industries.

But he warned the State Government to be mindful, following water price disputes in other parts of the State, that the asset should be there to serve growers - not vice versa.

Canegrowers general manager Ian Ballantyne has already hit out at the “knee-jerk negative reaction” of conservation and fishing groups over the Federal Government’s Burnett River Dam proposals.

He said he was disappointed at the unyielding and irresponsible attitude of environmental lobbyists who automatically rejected all new developments, regardless of their potential value to the community and their degree of sustainability
“We’ve still got a long way to go, but we’re pleased to see progress being made on this crucial scheme,” Mr Ballantyne said.

All eyes will now be turned on the Minister for State Development, Tom Barton. Under the Public Private Partnerships policy, he said the Beattie Government would consider a business case regarding funding and delivery options.

“Now that the approval has come from Canberra, the Beattie Government can move ahead to bring the project to fruition,” he said.