Qld government won’t repeat 2022 dam water ‘waste’

There will not be a repeat of the former government’s $55 free water rebate rolled out in 2022 to lower dam levels ahead of a wet summer, Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie has said.

The state government in 2022 offered residents a $55 rebate in a bid to lower dam levels ahead of a wet summer. File picture: Liam Kidston

There will not be a repeat of the former government’s $55 free water rebate rolled out in 2022 to lower dam levels ahead of a wet summer, Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie has said.

Water is now being released from Wivenhoe Dam and is expected to continue for the rest of the week amid heavy rain.

A total of 18 ungated dams across the southeast are spilling excess water.

In October 2022 then-premier Annastacia Palaszczuk gave every household connected to the southeast water grid a $55 rebate and told residents to use as much water as they could over a two-week period.

The rebate coincided with the government deciding to pre-emptively release 100,000ML of water from Wivenhoe ahead of an expected wet summer.

Mr Bleijie said the new government would not be offering that rebate.

“This was when some areas in Queensland were in drought and (Ms Palaszczuk) told everyone to go and soak the houses and wash the cars and waste a bunch of water … no we won’t be doing that,” he said