Labor government delays decision on building $5.4bn Hells Gate Dam

Two of Townsville’s longest serving federal MPs have joined forces to argue the case for building Burdekin Falls Dam stage two.

As the new Labor federal government delays decisions on the Hells Gate Dam, two of Townsville’s longest serving Labor and Liberal MPs have joined forces to argue the case for building the Burdekin Falls Dam stage two to its full height.

Former Liberal MP Peter Lindsay and former Labor MP Ted Lindsay, both now retired, say the dam’s upgrade is a “no-brainer” and question the focus on Hells Gate by the former Coalition government and the region’s peak development body Townsville Enterprise.

They also oppose the Labor state government’s plans to limit the raising of the Burdekin Falls Dam’s stage two which has the potential to be 14.6m but which is being assessed at 2m.

“When you look at the case for the Burdekin Falls Dam stage two it’s a no-brainer. It will provide the biggest boost in the North,” Peter Lindsay says.

He says the previous federal government wasted seven years doing studies on Hells Gate when it should have focused on the Burdekin Falls Dam Two.

Ted Lindsay, like his Liberal counterpart, served five consecutive terms as the Member for Herbert and was instrumental in pushing for development of the Burdekin dam in the 1970s and ‘80s before it was built by the Hawke government in 1987.

He says it will be a “catastrophe” for the state government to limit the dam’s height because it will prevent realising its full benefits in water supply and hydro-electricity.

This would also limit a gravity-fed water supply for Townsville and the development of emerging industries like hydrogen production.

Water flows over the spillway of the Burdekin Falls Dam.

“The obvious choice is Burdekin stage two. All the land has been resumed to allow for that to happen. All the saddle dams are complete,” Ted Lindsay said.

“I’m against Hells Gate at the moment. It has its place in years to come but not now. Burdekin stage two can be realised very, very quickly, within five years.”

Both have joined Burdekin lobby group North Queensland Water Task Force led by Townsville resident and retired WATER consulting engineer Tony Manning.

The group also includes Townsville residents barrister David Forbes and former bank manager Barry Lowe and Burdekin businessman John Honeycombe.

Mr Manning said they had met with leaders like Scott Morrison, Barnaby Joyce, Phillip Thompson as well as Townsville Enterprise.

He said Barnaby Joyce did not appear “overly interested” and that in a recent meeting Townsville Enterprise chair Kevin Gill and CEO Claudia Brumme-Smith their focus was on continuing to support Hells Gate Dam.

Now new federal Labor government has confirmed it will delay decisions on Hells Gate for a year while it reviews the dam’s latest business case.

A draft was reportedly handed to the state government in April, while a “final stage” was expected to have been completed in June.

The previous government claimed funding for the $5.4bn scheme had been “locked in” but that its funding was subject to the business case and agreement with the state government.

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers told a recent Politics with Michelle Grattan podcast a decision would be pushed back a year while the business case was done ”properly” to help save money in the budget. Labor thinks $500m can be saved.

Peter Lindsay said Hells Gate was never going to happen under a Labor-Greens government.

“This is just another way of putting a decision off into the future,” he said.

Ted Lindsay said federal governments had only ever fully financed two dams since 1901 — the Burdekin and Ord River schemes — and that state government involvement was critical.

“Don’t forget dams are state responsibilities,” Ted Lindsay said.

Originally published as Labor government delays decision on building $5.4bn Hells Gate Dam