Queensland’s water minister says promised federal funding for the Paradise Dam won’t be axed as part of a review of the former Morrison government’s election pledges.
The Albanese government could reprioritise some of the former government’s promised funding for road, rail and dam infrastructure projects in the upcoming budget.
Those include a $5.4 billion pledge for the Hells Gate Dam near Townsville and $500 million for the Urannah Dam near Mackay.
However, Queensland Water Minister Glenn Butcher says federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has promised to honour a pledge of $600 million for the Paradise Dam near Bundaberg.
“She has given me a guarantee that they will continue to fund that project. It’s critical, that work’s happening now on the ground,” he told reporters on Monday.
There have been fears the dam could collapse after it was so badly damaged during ex-tropical cyclone Oswald in 2013 that the water level had to be lowered by six metres to prevent a disaster.
Earlier on Monday, federal LNP MPs Keith Pitt and Colin Boyce, and state MP Stephen Bennett called on the Albanese government to honour the former coalition government’s pledge.
“We’ve seen even more reports today that Paradise Dam will not be funded by federal Labor. Paradise’s lost again, the people of our community have had enough,” Mr Pitt said in a video posted on Facebook.
“Federal Labor should deliver on their commitment.”
But Mr Butcher accused the federal opposition MPs of scaring local irrigators and residents about funding for the dam being cut, saying the state had already spent $30 million on the project.
“Just stop it, this project is going ahead. It’s a great project and the federal government will come on board and support it,” he said.
Meanwhile, funding for other dams such as the proposed Hell Gate project and Urannah Dam could still be reprioritised.
Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the former project would open up to 60,000 hectares of irrigation through a 2100 gigalitre dam bolstered by three downstream irrigation weirs.
He said at the time funding would hinge on a business case being completed, but the state government was concerned about environmental approvals for the project, and whether it would make water more affordable for irrigators.
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