Opinion: Labor takes credit for dam despite putting obstacles in its path

A gaggle of Labor politicians has taken credit for building our biggest post-war weir, but the reality is different, writes Matt Canavan.

Last week the biggest weir built since World War II was officially opened. The Rookwood Weir west of Rockhampton is the culmination of almost two decades of efforts to capture and use more of the water in eastern Australia’s second largest water catchment, the Fitzroy basin. The Murray-Darling basin is the biggest.

The weir will deliver, on average, 86,000MW of water annually. The use of this water will help double agricultural production in Central Queensland and protect Rockhampton’s water supply. There is also the potential to grow industry in Gladstone, but more on that later.

It is a fantastic demonstration that despite all the opposition from green activists, we can still build things in Australia. Unfortunately, however, the future plans for dams in Australia are about as dry as a drought stricken billabong.

This week a gaggle of Labor politicians came to Central Queensland to take credit for building the weir. It was quite the display of chutzpah.

The Labor Party had dragged their heels on the Rookwood project for years. The Coalition’s Malcolm Turnbull and Barnaby Joyce announced funding for the project in 2016. The Queensland Labor government demanded yet another study, which the federal Coalition government funded.

By 2018 the study came back positive and still the Queensland government found ways to stall by claiming cement prices had increased and the need for design changes to accommodate turtle ladders. It was not until after the LNP unexpectedly won the 2019 election (partly by thrashing Labor in Central Queensland) that construction started.

Last year the newly elected Labor government slashed $7 billion in dam funding across Australia. I am convinced that if Rookwood had not already started construction it would have been scrapped too. So, it was quite surprising to see Labor politicians like Cameron Dick claim this week that the Rookwood weir “will diversify Central Queensland’s economy, provide water security, create good long term local jobs and increase the prosperity of the entire region.”

This is all raises the question that if this dam is so good for Central Queensland, why are we not building other dams across Australia? There are no shortage of options.

Rookwood Weir has been officially opened.

The former Coalition government had funded the proposed Urannah and Hells Gate dams in Queensland and the Dungowan and Wyangala dams in NSW. These have all been scrapped by the incoming Labor government. This is a massive missed opportunity to expand Australian farming. There is enormous demand for high quality Australian agricultural produce demonstrated by the 40 per cent growth in our agricultural exports over the past decade.

Labor seems to want to build desalination plants rather than dams. The Queensland Government has proposed building a desal plant on the Sunshine Coast. Desalination uses enormous amounts of electricity putting more stress on our already creaky grid.

The other crazy idea which requires enormous quantities of electricity that Labor has is to export our scarce water resources to other countries. Some of the water from Rookwood weir will be used to make hydrogen in Gladstone. This involves sending freshwater down to Gladstone, using lots of electricity to burn the water (a process called electrolysis) and then sending the resulting hydrogen molecules to Japan and Korea.

The water is not destroyed. When it is used as a fuel, most likely in a car or truck overseas, water vapour will be exhausted. But then our water has been sent to countries that have abundant water supplies.

It makes zero sense to export water from the driest continent on earth. Australia’s water should be used to grow food, support our industry and supply our towns and cities.

Notwithstanding this net-zero madness, the final completion of the Rookwood Weir is positive but it is a shame that its opening has coincided with what looks like a dry, El-Nino-ravaged summer.

So while Rookwood may not fill this year, it’s a demonstration of why we need to build more dams across Australia. Our variable climate makes dams absolutely essential to store water in wet times so that we can get through dry times. Australia has failed to build many dams for a generation. A generation ago we could store 4.5Ml per person. Now we can store just 3.5Ml per person. We are on track for that to fall to 2.5Ml per person unless we build more dams.

As our population grows at record pace, we desperately need to rediscover our ability to build dams. Perhaps the visit of Labor politicians to Australia’s newest dam can inspire them to change course, and fund dams again.

Matt Canavan is an LNP senator for Queensland

Those at the opening included federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek (third from left) and state Treasurer Cameron Dick (second from right)