Warren Entsch says Cairns Mayor Bob Manning is ‘misleading’ in campaign for water security

Cairns Regional Council is digging its heels in over its bid for water security funding- but Federal MP for Leichhardt says it is ‘misleading’.

A WAR of words has erupted after Cairns Regional Council’s pitch for the federal government to fund half of a $248m water security project was not included in the federal budget.

Federal MP for Leichhardt Warren Entsch said Mayor Bob Manning had created a misleading campaign asking why $6.86b had been earmarked for five other regional Queensland water projects and Cairns, which sought $107.5m, missed out.

Cairns Regional Council Mayor Bob Manning has not given up on a bid to secure $107m federal funding for a critical water security project despite its omission from this week’s federal budget.

“Every one of those projects is agricultural water,” Mr Entsch said of the projects, which include $5.4b for the Hell’s Gate dam near Townsville.

“I’m not saying we’re not going to do something there (on Cairns water) but they’ve known about it for more than a decade and Bob didn’t tell anybody about it until last year he comes to me, and he has created a misleading advertising campaign,” he said.

Council maintains Cairns will run short of drinking water by 2026 unless funding for its Mulgrave River project is forthcoming.

“I am determined to get support for it, and it will be in spite of Bob and what he has done,” Mr Entsch said.

Copperlode Dam is not big enough to fulfil the city’s water needs in the immediate future, according to Cairns Regional Council, which has mounted a case for a $258m water security project to take water from the Mulgrave River. Picture: Brendan Radke.

Cr Manning said he wasn’t going to get into a slanging match.

“This issue has been out there since the 1990s,” he said.

“This is the first round of a fight, there is nothing unusual about getting knocked down in the first round – but you get up pretty quick and move on.

“Blind Freddie can look around and say why has $7b been allocated for water projects in Queensland and not $248m for Cairns – you’ve got water for cows, water for crops, but not water for people,” Cr Manning said.

Labor has said it will support the water project “if it stacks up”.

Originally published as Warren Entsch says Cairns Mayor Bob Manning is ‘misleading’ in campaign for water security