Queensland election 2017: LNP to drought-proof state with new dams

NEW dams to drought-proof Queensland and help struggling farmers are part of a $1.3 billion spending spree by Tim Nicholls to win over swinging regional voters.

No longer grounded, Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls took to north Queensland skies yesterday. Picture: Dave Hunt/AAP

NEW dams to drought-proof Queensland and help struggling farmers are part of a $1.3 billion spending spree by Tim Nicholls to win over swinging regional voters.

The plan to transform the state’s agriculture industry will include building and investigating new dams along the Queensland coast from Townsville to Mackay.

The LNP leader will swoop into far north Queensland today to announce he will build Rockhampton’s long-awaited Rookwood Weir and free Townsville from ongoing water restrictions.

Mr Nicholls said the rapidly growing Townsville region needed better water security to truly thrive, and pledged $225 million to upgrade the Haughton Channel and duplicate the Ross River Dam pipeline, with water demand set to overwhelm the current pipeline in the next decade.

He also promised to build the Urannah Dam between Proserpine and Mackay that could spark new agricultural projects and secure the future of new mines in the Bowen and Galilee basins.

An LNP government also would fund environment impact statements and feasibility studies for the Nullinga Dam, near Cairns, and the Burdekin Falls Dam upgrade that would quadruple its storage capacity to 2.4 million megalitres.

The Nullinga Dam was identified in the Northern Australia White Paper as a priority infrastructure build and has been mooted as the first step in developing a tropical food bowl to grow export opportunities and guarantee urban water supply for 50 years.

Mr Nicholls said his plan would unlock billions of dollars of Commonwealth Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility funding ready to be pumped into the state to create thousands of jobs, new regions for farmers and provide water for industry.

A new Queensland Dam Company would be set up in regional Queensland to drive the state-transforming projects, much like the Snowy Hydro Authority did for Australia.

The LNP has its sights on seats in Townsville and Rockhampton, where Labor is fighting off One Nation, and it must retain marginal Proserpine.

Mr Nicholls’s foray into regional Queensland began yesterday in Townsville, where he unveiled a $25.9 million North Queensland Crime Action Plan.

It was in stark contrast to Annastacia Palaszczuk’s high-profile announcements.

The Premier has visited Proserpine, Townsville, Cairns and Rockhampton since calling the poll on ­Sunday, but her only major new policy has been to spend $134 million growing tourism opportunities in Cairns, the Great Barrier Reef and on Great Keppel Island.

Mr Nicholls said he would build the first new dams in regional Queensland since the Paradise Dam near Bundaberg more than 12 years ago.

“The Dam Co will be Queensland’s version of the Snowy Hydro Authority — the company set up nearly 70 years ago to sort out and ­deliver the Snowy Hydro Scheme, a project which changed this country,” he said.

“It will allow for investment in our dams by the Federal Government, which has billions of dollars ready and available for dams and water infrastructure. We need to get our share.”

He accused the Labor Government of refusing to progress ready-to-go projects such as the Rookwood Weir, which has already been granted $130 million in Commonwealth funds to build.

“These projects have stalled for too long under Annastacia Palaszczuk, who is captured by green groups,” he said.

Opposition agriculture spokesman Dale Last will campaign in Rockhampton today on the Rookwood Weir with federal Resources and Northern Australia Minister Matt Canavan.

It’s predicted to create an extra $1 billion a year in agricultural production and 2100 new jobs.

“Not only will these dams support thousands of jobs across the state, they will also bring a massive economic boost to towns and cities doing it tough like such a Proserpine, Bowen, Ayr and Mackay,” Mr Last said.