Townsville Enterprise urges Qld government to get moving on Big Rocks Weir
Following the Big Rocks Weir project’s recent transfer of ownership, the state government is being urged to get moving on delivering it. Read the latest.
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Townsville Enterprise is ramping up the pressure on the state government to advance North Queensland’s long-awaited $90 million water security project Big Rocks Weir.
Since 2021, Charters Towers Regional Council had acted as the developer and owner of the 10,000 megalitre weir on the Burdekin River, 26km north of Charters Towers, but last month Charters Towers Regional Council mayor Liz Schmidt announced that the council was handing ownership of the project to the state government due to a series of roadblocks.
Townsville Enterprise chief executive Claudia Brumme-Smith urged Queensland’s Minister for Water Glenn Butcher to fast track the project as a matter of priority, especially given that its business case was completed in 2020.
She was prompted to speak out after waiting four weeks for the minister to respond and not seeing “any action going forward”.
“It’s not about necessarily just looking at the last four weeks. We’re looking at the last four years,” Ms Brumme-Smith said.
“What we’re seeing is red tape and green tape everywhere … and we want to see what they’re doing about that, and we haven’t seen that answer.
“Every project cost is going overboard, and the easiest way for the government to make a project not work is to put a lot of red and green tape on the agenda, make the project more expensive with environmental offsets that are beyond the cost of the project, and that’s what we’re seeing.”
She said the project could create more than 170 new jobs and an additional $35m in agricultural production annually.
“This includes improved water security for the Charters Towers community as well as more on-farm employment, food processing and handling services to supply domestic and export markets,” she said.
“We hope that the project moves toward construction as quickly as possible to ensure the benefits flow.”
Mayor Schmidt said the council continued to work with the state government and supported the project’s progression to ensure the community’s needs remained at the forefront.
“Going forward, with the aim being the delivery of this project to our region, we as a council strongly believe that this will be in the best interests of the project and the community,” Ms. Schmidt said.
“Council is hopeful that the project keeps moving forward and is achieved within a reasonable time frame.”
Mr Butcher said his government would continue to support water projects in North Queensland, and its $30m contribution to Big Rocks Weir remained on the table, alongside the Australian Government’s $38m commitment.
“The mayor of Charters Towers wrote to me recently advising council was relinquishing its role as proponent, developer, owner and operator of Big Rocks Weir,” he said.
“I asked my Department to work with other Queensland Government agencies to look at delivery options and next steps. Consideration of options is under way.
“We will continue to work closely with council to support water security and economic growth in the Charters Towers region.”
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Originally published as Townsville Enterprise urges Qld government to get moving on Big Rocks Weir
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