Editorial: So many opportunities to make Dreamworld ride safe

WE have learnt bit by heartbreaking bit of information and evidence that there were warnings, there were red flags and there were chances that, if taken, could have led to a different outcome on the Dreamworld river rapids ride.

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• Staffer desperately tried to save victims

THE Dreamworld Thunder River Rapids Ride accident, which ended in such shocking tragedy in October 2016, was the scene of family fun for thousands of Queenslanders over the years.

No one who enjoyed the twists, bumps and swirls of this adrenalin-charged fun park adventure realised they could have been close to a shuddering accident, such as the one 20 months ago when four riders were killed.

However, we have learnt bit by heartbreaking bit of information and evidence that there were warnings, there were red flags and there were chances that, if taken, could have led to a different outcome.

It is because so many Queenslanders — and almost as many visitors from interstate and overseas — had climbed into the circular River Rapids rafts and bounced their way through the cave and along the heart-stopping rapids, that everyone has wanted to know just what happened in late October 2016, why it occurred and whether it could have been prevented.

The word closure is overused, but for the families and friends of Cindy Low, Kate Goodchild, her brother Luke Dorsett and his partner Roozi Araghi who lost their lives, it is real. Many of them have not stopped grieving and the knowledge that is unfolding in a Southport Coroners court is helping everyone. These family members and friends have said they don’t want to find any individual to blame and are not looking for any kind of vengeance, which is a positive background against which this inquest is going ahead.

Sifting through this evidence, it’s clear there should have been greater attention to some obvious warning signs and red flags, such as when a raft flipped over as long ago as 2001. As with so many other lessons that are being thrown up day after day, park employees and managers should have investigated what happened in this and other mishaps and examined whether anything could have been done.

So many people over the years placed their faith in the operators, trusting the checks had been carried out and the equipment was in the best possible order. In most cases, this was the case, but as we saw in October, 2016, there were times when the customers who climbed into the rafts were let down. It might have been totally unimaginable, as many thought before the accident and have wondered about since, but we now know the unimaginable can happen with truly awful consequences.

We’ve heard that park employees were uncertain what to do in the event of an accident like the one seen in October 2016 or even what some of the emergency equipment was for. One worker was told she need not worry about the emergency stop button and didn’t understand the purpose of some of the emergency equipment. She told the inquest she hadn’t received sufficient training to be ready for what happened 20 months ago.

All of this, and whatever else we hear during the course of the rest of this inquest, must be the subject of close and intense study by not just the operators of Dreamworld but also those who run and work in other theme parks on the Gold Coast, elsewhere in Queensland and in other parts of the country.

We should honour the lives of the four who died at such shockingly young ages by learning as much as we can and doing whatever we can to make sure the chances these kind of incidents might happen are reduced to an absolute minimum. It is the least we can do to help the family and friends get the finality and what comfort they can gain from what has been a deeply upsetting period.

Maroons breeding fresh talent

Queensland Maroons player Kalyn Ponga. Picture: AAP Image/Dan Peled

FOURTEEN years ago, the Maroons blooded a 20-year-old kid from the Melbourne Storm who’d made his NRL debut only a year earlier.

In just his second game in front of 52,000 fans at Suncorp Stadium, that kid went on to score what many still regard as one of the greatest State of Origin tries of all time.

A grubber kick from the mercurial Darren Lockyer was snatched up and followed by an audacious chip and regather.

The try that came as a result put the Maroons in front in the 62nd minute and they went on to win the game.

That kid was Billy Slater, a man who has managed to transform himself from an unheralded Innisfail junior to a Queensland great.

Slater will retire from representative football at the end of this Origin series.

He’s the last of our “Big 4” — that also include the names Smith, Cronk and Thurston — to call time on his career in a Maroon jersey.

Slater may be 34, but he still could be the spark that reignites Queensland at ANZ Stadium tomorrow night after missing the Maroons’ Game 1 loss in Melbourne through injury.

Fortuitously, Queensland will throw another 20-year-old prodigy with limited NRL experience into the fray tomorrow night.

Kalyn Ponga has lived up to the hype during his debut season with Newcastle.

Few who saw Ponga’s handful of games for the North Queensland Cowboys doubted he would. This Origin game shapes as his true test.

Queensland is a game down and in enemy territory. So much rests of the shoulders of the fledgling flyer who will start the game on the bench.

Ponga shapes as an integral part of the Maroon’s Generation Next.

And even the great Billy Slater couldn’t guide Queensland to victory in the 2004 State of Origin Series.

However, with these two incredible talents in the same team and Queensland desperate for redemption, anything is possible. Go the Maroons.

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Sam Weir, corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661 778). Contact details are available at www.couriermail.com.au/help/contact-us