‘People going to the park now thinking things have changed, and things haven’t changed’

THE husband of Dreamworld victim Cindy Low says he doesn’t have “ill feelings” towards the ride staff, but fears safety at the theme park “hasn’t changed too much”.

THE husband of Dreamworld victim Cindy Low has opened up for the first time since his wife’s death nearly two years after the tragedy.

“Shock was the first part of it. You have to make so many decisions with so many emotions that you just become exhausted,” Mathew Low said in an exclusive interview on ABC’s 7.30 program tonight.

“And you really are exhausted and you almost are in a very surreal state where you’re watching things happen but you’re not feeling part of the situation.”

Mr Low and Cindy share two young children together, Kerin, 12 and Isla, 10.

Both Cindy and her son Kerin were happily enjoying their time on the Thunder River Rapids ride, when disaster struck.

Mr Low and his daughter were waiting nearby when the ride capsized on October 25, 2016. The ride malfunctioned resulting in a horrific disaster that claimed the lives of Ms Low, Kate Goodchild, her brother Luke Dorsett and his partner Roozi Araghi.

Mr Low told host Leigh Sales that the biggest shock since the 2016 disaster was safety.

“The safety side of it, going to the park today, it hasn’t changed too much from when we went there,” he said on the program. “That’s probably the biggest thing that shocked me.

“People going to the park now thinking things have changed, and things haven’t changed. It’s a massive hole that’s left when Cindy left.”

Matthew Low has opened up for the first time since the tragic Dreamworld tragedy. Source: ABC 7.30

The coronial inquest was told there were recurring mechanical problems and operating issues with the ride — which was described as a dangerous rats’ nest — going back 15 years prior to the October 2016 disaster, including an eerily similar incident in 2001.

The pump of the Thunder ride stopped working, causing water levels to drop and a raft to become stuck on the conveyor belt.

That raft was hit by another carrying Mr Dorsett, Ms Goodchild, her 12-year-old daughter Ebony, Mr Araghi, Ms Low and her son, Kieran. The vessel flipped, killing the adults. The children miraculously survived.

Mr Low told 7.30 that despite reports Kieran had been thrown from the raft, he believed his son was helped off the raft by an attendant.

Mr Low said he feels for the ride attendants who were working that day.

“They were just doing their jobs as they’d been trained, and thinking that they were doing the right thing through this process,” he said.

“I don’t have any ill feelings towards any of the ride attendants on that day.

“They were put in an awful situation, and they’d never been trained on how to deal with that situation.”

Matthew Low and his wife Cindy Low who was killed on Thunder River Rapids ride. Source: ABC 7.30

Dreamworld victims Kate Goodchild and Cindy Low. Source: Supplied

Dreamworld victims Luke Dorsett and Roozi Araghi. Source: Supplied

Kate Goodchild (left) drowned at Dreamworld. She is pictured with her daughter Ebony and her partner David Turner taken on November 22, 2014. Source: Facebook

But he did explain that the grief side of it, “never really goes away.”

“One of the things that I found is just actually taking the time to just sit and let the children talk to me,” he said.

“Especially when you’re sort of used to being really busy and running around. You don’t realise how often there are lots of things that bring back memories of people when they’re gone that hit really hard.”

He said Mother’s Day is a big challenge for the children, which they don’t ignore, “but spend a bit of time doing other stuff.”

Mr Low told Sales that there were lots of times where he didn’t really know what he was going to do. “But I just would take one day at a time.”

“It’s a massive hole that’s left when Cindy left. And I didn’t, didn’t know how to do it to start with,” he said during his emotional interview.

Mr Low attended the inquest into the Dreamworld disaster everyday. AAP Image/Glenn Hunt

He said spending as much time with the kids as possible really helped him.

“And I know that is something that Cindy would have wanted as well. Because they meant the world to her.”

Mr Low said Dreamworld had reached out to him, but he wasn’t up for having a conversations at the time.

“No complaints at the moment. They have respected my wishes for us to be left alone,” he said.

However, he did say what struck him the most was the “lack of information” shared among staff in terms of “why you should push a certain button or not push a certain button.”

“There did seem to be a lack of information for the staff to understand why that was occurring … there had been nothing formal or, from the company itself or embedded into the training, as to why you would do something at a particular ride.”

Queensland Emergency service personnel surrounding the ride in question at the amusement theme park on Tuesday, October 25, 2016. AAP Image/Dan Peled

Mr Low said he attended the coronial inquest everyday for his wife, to hear the truth.

“My reason for going was to understand why it happened, get a better understanding as to why we had to go through this awful experience and so that no-one else ever has to.

He told Sales that his wife would have been really, really angry that the children were put in the situation.

“We still have lots of ups and downs. I haven’t really settled on a ‘why me’ approach, I just think we were really unlucky.”

“It was a huge shock to lose Cindy and the way that we now approach it is sort of what would Cindy do is how I get through some challenging decisions that I have to make.”

After something like this happens, people have to find a new normal in their life. Do you think that you’re there yet? Sales asked.

“No. No. I wouldn’t consider what we have is a new normal,” Mr Low said.

Dreamworld declined to be interviewed for the story on 7.30. Its parent company, Ardent Leisure, is preparing a statement for the program.

Dreamworld operator Courtney Williams. The young ride operator dived in to help rescue people from the tragedy.

SAFETY ISSUES

On the day of the fatal accident, ride operator Courtney Williams was doing her first shift. She told the coronial inquest that during her 90-minutes of training before starting her shift, she’d been told not to “worry about” an emergency stop button for the ride.

She also said she didn’t fully understand what that button and other stop buttons actually did.

It wasn’t the only ride under scrutiny for safety concerns.

According to ABC’s 7.30 program, in 2015 the Australian Workers’ Union lodged an official safety complaint.

The complaint says in November 2014, the cyclone rollercoaster was released from its station with the safety harnesses up and this was a direct impact of having only one operator working the ride. It then quotes a ride operator with 17 years’ experience as an instructor saying, “It is a disaster waiting to happen”.

In response, the Queensland workplace health and safety inspector visited Dreamworld and found the complaint was a critical safety event but despite that, the regulator did not take any action, 7.30 reported.

According to the program, government safety inspectors did not personally inspect, review or audit the Thunder River Rapids Ride for six and a half years prior to the tragedy.

It was the second major incident on a ride at the Queensland theme park in just six months, that year.

The Queensland office of industrial relations admits the electorate staff lacked proper qualifications, 7.30 reported, and admits:

“I think inadequate regulation and I think the issues in relation to the operation and safety management at Dreamworld itself and the management of that require very serious investigation.”

Dreamworld’s acting CEO declined 7.30’s request for an interview. In a statement the company said it was delivering continuous enhancements to ride safety, citing new training drills and a platform.