The future for public servants overseeing massive NQ water projects is up in the air. See why.
However, Water and Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek says the national body in Canberra can handle the work.
The North Queensland Water Infrastructure Authority was established under the Coalition government in 2019 to co-ordinate the Hughenden Irrigation, Hells Gates Dam and Big Rocks Weir projects. But the authority was abolished last week; the federal government says this will save $9.5 million over four years.
The agency’s functions will be transferred into the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
Six people work at the authority, and their future is unclear.
In Townsville on Wednesay, Ms Plibersek said the authority was cut because it made sense to bring all project delivery staff together.
Minister for the Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek in Townsville on Wednesday. Picture: Shae Beplate.
“One of the projects that they were managing has been discontinued and the other two can be best dealt with by the same people who are doing water infrastructure right across Australia.”
People working in the authority will be accommodated by the department.
“It’s an administrative decision,” Ms Plibersek said.
The site of the proposed Hells Gates Dam about 120km northwest of Townsville.
Herbert MP Phil Thompson said the authority overseeing North Queensland projects should be in North Queensland.
Earlier in the week Ms Plibersek said her government wanted to build dams “when they stack up”. Mr Thompson said Labor did not want to build dams in the north.
The Big Rocks Weir Business Case suggests a strongly positive economic outcome from the construction of a 188 metre long, 10,000 ML capacity weir at Big Rocks, north of Charters Towers.
“This is a cut to jobs and I believe this is a detriment to our future here in the north,” Mr Thompson said of the authority abolishment.
“We have to fight tooth and nail to get people out of Canberra, out of Brisbane, to come here. To pull them away … is a bad mistake.”
Nationals Senator Matt Canavan was also in Townsville on Friday; he said it was unclear in last year’s Senate estimates how many people would be working for the authority, “so we’ll find out next week (at Senate estimates) how many jobs will be lost”. However, he said the authority originally had six project management positions.
“We unashamedly believe that we should have North Queensland people in our public service managing North Queensland projects,” Mr Canavan said.
The senator was concerned that the Big Rocks Weir project “seems to be being run out of Canberra”.
Mr Thompson said he would be requesting a meeting with Ms Plibersek.
Townsville Enterprise chief executive Claudia Brumme-Smith said North Queensland’s water security should not be a political issue, because it was a community need.
“We’ve had no indication from the state or federal Labour Government that Hells Gates Dam would be back on their agenda.”
“Minister Plibersek announced there is $2 billion on the table for overall water infrastructure projects in Australia. We believe the Burdekin Basin is the best investment for this funding,” Ms Brumme-Smith said.
The region was a natural choice for investment because of “population growth, enormous hydrogen potential and abundance of prime agricultural land”, she said.
“We have always supported the important safety upgrades for the Burdekin Falls Dam and look forward to the business case for the two metre wall raising being made public. For water planning to take a community approach, this information must be shared with the region.”