‘Nothing to do with me’: Former Callide power boss Jim Soorley unaware of safety warnings

A Labor veteran who was in charge at Callide power station when an explosion cut power to 500,000 Queenslanders says he has no plans to read damning report into the disaster.

A Labor heavyweight who was in charge at Callide power station when separate incidents crippled the plant and cut power to about 500,000 Queenslanders has not and will not read the damning report into the disaster, saying outside court that “accidents happen”.

Former Brisbane Lord Mayor and Labor veteran Jim Soorley was chairman at CS Energy – which manages Callide – from 2015 until he resigned in June 2023.

Mr Soorley was called to the stand in the Federal Court on Thursday where he spent an hour answering questions concerning his involvement with safety and maintenance operations at the plant, and whether he knew of the warnings that a “catastrophic” incident could occur.

The C4 explosion at Callide Power Station, about 150km south of Rockhampton, occurred in May 2021, while the cooling tower collapse in the C3 unit happened in October 2022.

The Federal Court case was initiated by FTI Consulting – the appointed administrators of IG Power, CS Energy’s joint-venture partner for the Callide Power Station. The case is investigating the cause of the C3 and C4 incidents.

Former Brisbane Lord Mayor, Jim Soorley leaves the Federal Court building after giving evidence. Picture: Glenn Campbell

Energy Minister Mick de Brenni gave evidence last week that he was unaware of the prior safety warnings, as well as the associated backlog in safety inspections and maintenance work at the power station until the crucial Brady Report was released earlier this year.

In the Federal Court in Brisbane on Thursday, Mr Soorley was asked whether he was interviewed for the damning Brady Heywood report into the C3 and C4 incidents, to which he replied that he was not.

Barrister Nicholas Hopkins, representing administrators FTI Consulting, then asked Mr Soorley if he had read the final report?

“No,” he answered.

“Why not?” Mr Hopkins pressed.

“I’d left the business [by the time it was released] and I had other things to do. I didn’t know that I was going to be dragged here [the Federal Court] and even when I knew I was going to be dragged here, I had made a conscious decision not to read it,” Mr Soorley said.

“Is there a reason for that?” Mr Hopkins asked.

“It’s nothing to do with me,” Mr Soorley replied.

Words to the effect of “it was nothing to do with me” turned out to be Mr Soorley’s answer to many questions put to him by Mr Hopkins.

When Callide’s process safety manager and her second-in-charge resigned, believed to be out of frustration that safety and maintenance schedules were not being met, this meant there was no process safety management team at Callide from April 2019 to July 2020.

Callide power station.

In her exit interview, Callide’s process safety manager raised multiple safety concerns and warned “a process safety incident was possible” and in a further exit interview she expressed concerns that “Callide was on a path for catastrophic risk”.

Mr Hopkins asked Mr Soorley if he was aware of these resignations at the time, their implications, and whether the process safety manager’s concerns reached him.

“No … the exit interviews of staff were nothing to do with the chairman,” he told the court.

“It was the opinion of one person who was leaving the organisation … nothing to do with me.

“But just because two people have gone, it doesn’t mean that the process safety stuff is no longer rolling through the culture of the business.”

The process safety manager’s concerns were escalated to then-CS Energy CEO Andrew Bills, who had a meeting with her to discuss them further.

Mr Soorley testified that Mr Bills had not told him that this meeting took place.

“So as chairman, you had no expectations of what Andrew [Mr Bills] reported to you?” Mr Hopkins posed to Mr Soorley in court.

“On operational issues, that’s how the business was run. There was a clear distinction – operational and policy.” Mr Soorley replied, having earlier told the court that process safety was an operational issue, and he did not get involved in operational issues in his role.

As Mr Soorley left the Federal Court in the pouring rain, he was asked whether he had misled the Energy Minister regarding the two catastrophic incidents.

“Absolutely not,” he replied sternly.

When asked outside court if he believed the Callide incidents could have been prevented, Mr Soorley simply answered: “Accidents happen.”

Mr Soorley also reiterated outside court that he has no plans to read the Brady Report, even after his testimony on Thursday, because he no longer works for CS Energy.

The case was adjourned on Thursday, with no specific return date set as yet, pending further witnesses.

Originally published as ‘Nothing to do with me’: Former Callide power boss Jim Soorley unaware of safety warnings